24.02.06
INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATORY ON THE GENOA TRIALS
INTERNATIONAL OBSERVATORY ON THE GENOA TRIALS
Genoa, 26 January 2006
Dear Friends,
As you know, court proceedings stemming from the serious incidents which
occurred during the G8 in July, 2001, are underway. We are convinced that
these trials are of great political and cultural import, and that they
should be brought to public attention in Italy and in all of Europe. The
only "victory" possible in such trials, apart from the sentences, is the
development of an awareness that in 2001 there was a dramatic suspension of
the Law, of the state of Legality. It is only from this awareness that it
will be possible to identify the antibodies necessary so that nothing
similar ever happens again.
Our Commitee, albeit with little means, has done its part in recent years.
We know that our efforts are not sufficient and that the the legal battle
will be very hard. It will have turns of events with immediate political
and media repercussions. Thus, we feel it is essential that the trials be
covered carefully and constantly, to avoid their being surrounded by
silence, as if they were normal legal proceedings. We are in need of a
means by which to reach public opinion and the institutions. Thus, we
thought of constituting an International Observatory on the trials.
The work of this Observatory should be to follow the trials and interpret
their political and institutional aspects and thus act in a role of
"verification" regarding the upholding of constitutional principles. In
Genoa in 2001, the relationship between citizens and their government
institutions (beginning with the police force), one of the cornerstones of
democracy, was seriously damaged. The trials and the public debate
regarding them will offer a unique opportunity to fill in the chasm between
instutions and civil society that opened up in 2001, a chasm that has only
broadened in recent years.
We therefore expect policital-institutional vigilance and verification from
this Observatory, with public statements and its presence in Genoa as it
sees fit. Our Commitee, thanks to its rapport with the lawyers involved in
the trials, will take responsibility for guaranteeing the maximum
distribution of information.
As far as the composition of the Observatory is concerned, we thought of a
"founding " group of figures from civil society: educators, representatives
of associations and organisms sensitive to civil rights issues. This nucleus
could then be joined by parlamentarians (both Italian and foreign) who have
followed the legal consequences of the Genoa G8 in recent years.
Commitee for Truth and Justice for Genoa
COMITATO VERITA' E GIUSTIZIA PER GENOVA
