On November 5, the second degree of the Marini trial against several dozen
anarchists in Italy began. For those who are unfamiliar with this trial,
Marini is a public prosecutor who began an investigation against anarchists
over eight years ago. After years of harassment, searches, confiscation of
literature and other materials including computers, electronic spying,
imprisonment without charges, etc., the first degree of the trial began.
Anarchists faced charges of participation in an armed gang and of
subversive association, as well as for specific crimes. The prosecutor�s
case was based largely upon a the testimony of a �penitent� who was in a
desperate situation and could not keep her story straight and a couple of
other questionable witnesses, and the misrepresentation of the title of a
section of a piece written by Alfredo Bonanno. At he end of the first
degree of the trial the judges dropped the charges of armed gang and
subversive association, but sentenced several comrades for specific crimes.
Some of these comrades are currently in prison. The second degree of the
trial is an appeal that allows the prosecutor to reinstate all charges and
present new evidence. The following is a translation of a summary of the
second hearing of the second degree trial that occurred on November 12. The
third hearing is scheduled to happen tomorrow, November 21:
12 NOVEMBER: SECOND HEARING OF THE APPEAL OF THE MARINI TRIAL
Initially, Marini digressed again on the need to hear Giovani Barcia, who,
according to him, could make � interesting revelations�. One of the defense
lawyers at this point noted that Barcia is not at all disposed to make
declarations of any type, and that his only desire is to return Spain as
soon as possible. In consequence, Marini insisted on the importance of
hearing the prison doctor at Vallette, who received a mail-bomb in 1998, as
a witness since this bomb could be the work of the spectral ORAI [the
alleged armed gang�translator]. The president of the court denied this
possibility, from the moment that the proved to have nothing to do with the
reasons for which the appeal was demanded. After these requests, Marini
began his address, which lasted about four hours, during which he dwelled
upon some elements of the prosecution�s theorem: from the �revelations of
Namsetchi (the �penitent� direct by the ROS [special police
organization�translator]), to the Silocchi kidnapping, to the �double
level� that would be characteristic of the anarchist organization, the
totality frequently emphasizing the similarity to the trials for terrorism
in years past. It is to be noted that during the first hearing held on
November 5, Marini also spoke for at least a half hour about Barcia who
does not enter into the appeal trial at all since for him the trial of the
first degree has barely started; and Marini certainly did not forget to
mention the robbery in Cordoba (Spain) in 1996, and the two police that
were killed in the gun battle. All this continually enriching the speech
with descriptions relating to the defendants: robbers, kidnappers,
murderers, surely with the intent of impressing the jury. It was certainly
not pleasant for us to hear the proclamations of Marini, and it was even
less pleasant to see our comrades (Carlo Tesseri, Gregorian Garagin,
Francesco Porcu currently imprisoned for other crmes) behind glass through
which it was truly difficult to communicate; but we still wanted to stay in
the hall because this is the only way to see and greet comrades who have
already spent so many years in the fatherland�s jails. To them all, our
solidarity, complicity and affection. The next hearing has been set for
today, Thursday, November 21. (Edited by : Anarchist Black Cross)
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=02/11/20/1251918
