Askatasuna clashes: prosecutor seeks four-year sentence for the first defendant

Four years’ imprisonment is the sentence initially sought by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office in relation to the clashes that took place on 31 January in the Piedmontese capital during the pro-Askatasuna demonstration. The proposal concerns a 22-year-old man from the province of Grosseto who was arrested under the ‘deferred arrest in flagrante delicto’ procedure. The young man has requested to be tried under the fast-track procedure. According to investigators, he was among the group of demonstrators who surrounded and kicked a police officer from the mobile unit; he faces charges even though he did not take a direct part in the violence. The proceedings against him are separate from the larger case which today led to the execution of sixteen precautionary and restrictive measures.

‘A police officer surrounded by a gang of violent, masked thugs, thrown to the ground and savagely beaten with kicks, punches and a hammer. Another officer trapped inside an armoured vehicle that was set alight. Over a hundred men and women from the police force injured. What happened in Turin on 31 January was a criminal guerrilla attack, organised and planned against those who risk their lives every day to defend the safety and freedom of us all. Today’s operation confirms that the State will not back down and will not allow violence to go unpunished.” This was stated by Paolo Zangrillo, Minister for Public Administration and regional secretary of Forza Italia in Piedmont, commenting on the 16 precautionary measures carried out by the Turin DIGOS as part of the investigation into the clashes at the Askatasuna demonstration.

‘The reaction from Askatasuna circles is shameful; they are still talking about the “truncheon strategy”. What truncheon are they talking about? I remember a hammer used to beat a defenceless police officer to death, a vehicle set alight with an officer inside, stones, firecrackers and a city turned into a battlefield. This is the truth that no propaganda can erase,” continues Zangrillo, responding to statements from opposition circles following the police operation. ‘They describe the charges as disproportionate and invoke the spontaneity of anger. But what anger! This is barbarism, and it is intolerable that anyone should still attempt to justify or downplay it,’ he adds.