The European Court of Human
Rights on Thursday again condemned Italy over police brutality
during the during the Genoa G8 in 2001.
The court said Italy's laws were inadequate to punish torture
committed by the security forces in a ruling related to a night
blitz at the Diaz school, which was being used as a billet for
protesters.
The court also condemned Italy for not having adequately
punished those responsible for what happened in Genoa.
In the night assault on the Diaz school, hundreds of police
attacked about 100 activists and a few journalists, wounding 82
and seriously injuring 61 - three critically and one, British
journalist Mark Covell, left in a coma with rib and spinal
injuries.
Later, at the barracks in Bolzaneto, some 252 demonstrators
rounded up at the Diaz and another school, the Pascali, said
they were spat at, verbally and physically humiliated or
threatened with rape while being held.
Officers planted evidence including two Molotov cocktails and
hammers and knives from a nearby construction site to justify
the raid.
Amnesty International called the event "the most serious
suspension of democratic rights in a Western country since the
Second World War".
In April Italy admitted responsibility for police brutality
at the Bolzaneto barracks and agreed to pay 45,000 euros each to
six citizens for moral and material damages as well as court
costs.
During the 2001 G8, one protester was shot dead while
attacking a Carabinieri policeman, shops and businesses were
ransacked, and hundreds of people injured in clashes between
police and demonstrators.
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