SENZA CENSURA n.11
Italy, June 2003

POLITICAL PROCESS AND CONFLICT

Interwiew with the lavyer S. Clementi, defender of some islamic prisoner.

The judicial chronicles of the last ten years show a social reality that orthodox people of every wing believed closed. The history of conflicts and of their composition. Nevertheless in these last then years (nearly twenty years) social reality has known conflicts that have opposed, and they still oppose, portions of bourgios that have rappresented themselves and they still rappresent themselves, in judicial sphere and not only (like tangentopoli and suits against Berlusconi & Co) and in succession all suits against supposed terrorists (anarchists, Carc, Iniziativa Comunista etc.), against militants of communist guerilla organizations and now also against islamic organization militants.
In this way political processes become an instrument for repression of conflicts confirming the nature and function of bourgiois judicial sistem that is to say social controll.
The "islamic question" becomes rilevant from a judicial and international point of view during or after imperialist conflicts explosed in Jugoslavy, Middle East and in North Africa countries. We have to underline that Islamic Groups are, in these days and in those geografic regions, the only one or at least the more visibles organized oppositions, even armed, to the imperialist policy, even if they have religious reasones.
In Italy the first inquiry into islamic militants starts at the end of '90. The first big judicial investigation had been in 1998, it hit 8 algerian citizens, already resident in Italy, and considered by magistracy members ofe terroristic organization called Al Takfir, split fom algerinian GIA. Really this enquire starts three years before thanks to french magistracy, exactly thanks to the french judge Jean Luis Bruguiere. In that period, french investigators had arrested many people, nearly 80, the most part of them were algerians and tunisians. The reason was a series of attempts against underground stations in Paris and they always ended with the hunt and the murder, after an unequal ire conflicts, of the supposed terrorist by french DST agents (like secret services with antiterrorist competence).
The Italian process against these 8 persons stopped immidiatly and all arrested people have been released. This process, made in Milan, had been deleted two times and after it has been transfered in front of Napoli tribunal, where is still open. In the following years other process have been started, in Milano and Bologna, agaist egiptians with similar cherges that algerians.
Only in 2001,always the magistracy of Milano started to develop a theory, inspired by english and united states services, about terroristic organizations in Europe, and speccially in Italy, linked to the Al Quaida net of Osama Bin Laden. Net of organizations till now absolutly unknown to the itlian and french investigators. Till the 11th of september, the persons arrested have been accused of criminal association with the pourpose of weapons trade linked to the international terrorism and to hold false identity documents to help supposed terrorists in different countries. Everything have been organized by tha CIA and it has been directed by investigators of Milano like Dott.Stefano Dambruso. The attemps of 11th of september 2001 in the USA have changed the legislation about terrorism not only in a national point of view but especially international. The Imperialist States have coordinated the "struggle against terrorism" and an ideological and military direction is borned under controll of the USA that have up to date a list of organizations and States decleared "terrorists", that is to say illegals, so destinated to be repressed. European States have accepted the list and they have applied USA orders. The italian legislation was already rich of repression instruments, so it had only modified the article of the penal code 270 bis (association with pourpose of terrorism also international or eversion of democratic order), with a law of the 15-12-2001 n°438 "Urgent dispositions to fight international terrorism" extending the concept of pourpose of terrorism with the hypothesis that "the acts of violence could be against a foreign country, an istitution or an international organism". This changement realizes the possibility to repress everybody who organize, makes solidarity in every forms, in Italy, with Internatinal and Revolutionary Organizations definied "terrorists" by the USA list, where we can find nearly all marxist or islamic organizations with an antimperialist praxis. This law allows to incrimanate, also in Italy, whoever develops struggles or solidarity campains, like counterinformation or colletting money campains, with foreign Subjects or Organizations that utilize armed struggle against their own governaments. For example who organizes peaceful demostration for Palestinian Organizations involved in intifada or with turkish or southamerica revolutinary organizations could be persecuted with this article of the penal code. The real chengement is a new lwgislation and investigativ praxis able to develop a preventiv strong sistem of controll and repression of decleared antimperialist mouvement.
Prison conditions of islamic militant are particulary hard and violate all rights by italian law. They are submit to the EIV, high level of surveillance, they have few possibility to have air hours, to mantein any kind of social relations with other prisoners, to have mail contacts with the family or friends and to have information instruments, more of this they are in far prisons from their legals like Palmi, Biella, Porto Azzurro, Spoleto and Sulmona.
The most important characteristic of all penal processes before the 11th of September 2001 was the total absence of specific evidents about the existence of a terroristic net with Osama Bin Laden for leader. From a judicial point of view there's no one valable evidents to show the existance not only of a terrorist net, but neither of Al Qaeda, that is supposed to be the head of the net. The sentences have been based on this theorem, that is to say repress everywhere and in every way. The penal trials start with the new 270bis are still in an investigativ phase and we are waitin for hard sentences.
These juridical procediments show the bourgois character of every juridical and judicial order, releated to their supposed democracy.
We have to say that many elements utilized in italian and european processes against islamic militant have been extorted to Guantanamo prisoners where torture is applied and ammitted by USA, or by Egiptian or tunisian services ecc. The consequence is that sentences and before the arrests of islamic militant in Italy are based on declarations gived by others supposed islamic militant during interrogatories made in Guantanamo lager or tunisian, egiptian etc. Military prisons. In this way our democratics can swear that in Italy "neither terrorists are tortured". The most part of the accused are young immigrants, twenty years old or few more, that works in factories or with casual works. The declarations released by the accused have changed durinr the years. The algerians and the egiptians arrested at the end of 90 were sidewith religious positions against "unfaithful occident", the most recent arrests, from 2001, show subjects that have critics about social and economic conditions of their people, specify israelian, USA and european imperialism cause of oppression and poverty. So today the investigators ano governaments analists are suggesting, with fantasy or wise propaganda, the possibility of an alliance between communist and islamic organization, with immaginable consequences on the next inquires.