The only network we belonged to was actually the Anti-Imperialist Camp, which the Berlusconi government, the then Minister for Internal Affairs Pisanu and the under-secretary Mantovano had been thinking of getting rid of for a long time, because of its great solidarity campaigns with the resistances of the oppressed people.
For years we were under watch by the Ros and the Digos [special sections of the Italian Carabinieri and Police]. They did not find a smoking gun, nor what could be reasonably called evidence. So they settled for a non-existent entity, which was made up by the attorney of Perugia.
Their theory was simple: according to the special terrorism laws (art. 270bis) and their hardening of December 2001 (270 ter, quater etc.), supporting the resistances to the occupation wars like the Palestinian and Iraqi ones, or the Turkish and Kurdish resistance against a military dictatorship, would equal being terrorist or at least backing terrorism. [The picture shows a demonstration 2004 in support of the Iraqi resistance in Rome in front of the Vatican 2004.]
The verdict of full acquittal demolished this accusatory amalgam, and while it refuses to label the anti-imperialists as criminals, it also encourages to reflect upon the constitutional legitimacy of the current so-called “anti-terrorism” laws, in particular their hardening adopted from 2001 on.
On the very day we were arrested, while we were brought to prison with sirens blaring, and while the media portrayed us as dangerous criminals, the Minister for Internal Affairs Giuseppe Pisanu himself spoke out to back the frame-up, saying: «It is more and more plausible that groups or persons among the Italian subversives are establishing contacts and cooperation with international terrorist organizations, driven by their shared anti-American and anti-western feelings.»
Today’s verdict by destroying this frame-up re-establishes the truth for which we have always been fighting, giving us back our dignity of anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist militants, which is the most precious thing we have.
Our thoughts are now for the people who like us, in Italy and everywhere in the world, are arrested for their ideas and their commitment to liberation movements. The persecution and the arrests have not changed us, we were, are and will be close to the oppressed, especially the peoples that dare to rebel against the arrogance of the American empire, which is the watchdog of a world system that risks to bring humanity towards a catastrophe.
We say thank you to the comrades who gave us solidarity at the times of our arrest and whose solidarity never ceased to reach us in all these years. And we say hello to the many friends and common citizens who made us feel their affection and appraisal.
Moreno Pasquinelli
Perugia, September 23rd 2010
