ECHR OKs Genoa G8 police appeal (2)

(ANSA) - Genoa, March 9 - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that an appeal filed by police officials on a case pertaining to a notorious and bloody round-up at a Genoa school housing anti-globalisation protesters at the 2001 Group of Eight summit in northern Italy is admissible. The police were acquitted in the first trial but found guilty on appeal and in the Court of Cassation for false claims and slander. The appeal claims that there were violations in the men's defense rights. ECHR will be assessing the appeal and, if upheld a review trial may be held.
    The officers were found guilty, among other things, of planting a Molotov cocktail to justify a brutal raid that Amnesty International called "the worst suspension of human rights in Europe since WWII". The "Armando Diaz" School was the temporary headquarters of the Genoa Social Forum, led by Vittorio Agnoletto. A nearby building, housing the anti-globalization organization Indymedia and lawyers affiliated with the Genoa Social Forum, was also raided. On July 21, 2001, shortly before midnight, mobile divisions of the State Police of Genoa, Rome and Milan attacked the buildings, with the operational support of some battalions of the Carabinieri.
    The police indiscriminately attacked the building's occupants, resulting in the arrest of 93 protesters; 61 were seriously injured and were taken to hospital, three of them were in a critical condition and one in a coma. Prisoners taken to a temporary detention facility in Bolzaneto were tortured and humiliated before being released. The raid is the subject of the 2012 film Diaz - Don't Clean Up This Blood where the attack and subsequent torture of detainees is recreated. On April 7, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy had violated the European Convention on Human Rights at the 2001 G8 and ordered compensation for a protester beaten by the police.