A legal black hole

A trial over police attacks on antiglobalists in Diaz School during the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001 has come to an end after three years. More than half of the 29 people accused of abuse of authority and criminal assault have been acquitted. In La Repubblica newspaper Giuseppe D'Avanzo has harsh words for the judgement. "Just like in the Bolzaneto trial [another location of violence during the G8 summit], this is a poor judgement. Above all it is careless and dangerous. ... Just as with Bolzaneto, the judges should have cleared up how and on whose authority a legal black hole can exist in a democracy where the rule of law and constitutional guarantees are annulled and naked life ... is subjected to arbitrary and bloodthirsty violence. ... Seven years after the attacks that were justified as emergency measures by the government [of current prime minister Silvio Berlusconi] back then, nothing has changed. Far from soothing the situation, the judgements on Diaz and Bolzaneto only disturb us. Rather than healing wounds, they only make them bleed more."

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