Brutality trials start for top Italian police

[emad]

· G8 protesters claim they were gassed and beaten
· New laws could render convictions meaningless

John Hooper in Rome
Wednesday October 12, 2005
The Guardian


Seventy-five people, including some of Italy's most senior police officers, go on trial in the next two days, accused of taking part in an orgy of brutality against protesters during and after the demonstrations at the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa.

Court papers seen by the Guardian show that one police witness gave a written statement describing his colleagues "beating young people like wild beasts". Several of the victims were British.

The defendants all deny the charges. Even if found guilty, it looks increasingly unlikely that any will go to prison, or even pay a fine, because of a bill currently making its way through the Italian parliament. The proposed legislation, which critics of Silvio Berlusconi's government say was devised to keep the prime minister's former lawyer out of jail, would render any sentences null and void.

Twenty-five protesters are on trial accused of looting and damage to property.

The first of the two new trials begins today with 47 police and medical staff accused of mistreating arrested demonstrators at a camp at Bolzaneto, near Genoa. Prosecutors allege detainees were beaten and sprayed with asphyxiating gas. They say some were forced to shout out chants in praise of Italy's late fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, and that at least one of the songs was anti-semitic. Charges brought against the defendants range from actual bodily harm to failure to respect international human rights conventions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1589996,00.html