The Bologna case: legal protection for officers has been activated for the first time – how it works

Six names, no suspects. That is the outcome, on paper, of the investigation launched by the Bologna Public Prosecutor’s Office into the death of Abderahhim Fakir, aged 43, who died on Sunday 19 July in Via Svevo, in the Pilastro district, during a police operation. The two officers from the Bolognina-Pontevecchio police station and the four paramedics from the 118 emergency service who attended the scene have not been entered in the register of suspects, but in Form 45-bis, the new register of preliminary notes introduced by the Security Decree of last February (which became law in April).

Prosecutor Paolo Guido, together with public prosecutor Domenico Ambrosino, has opened an investigation into manslaughter, but without formally naming any suspects: the investigation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office explains, will cover ‘the entire sequence of events’, which is more extensive than that shown in the video circulating online.

This is the first time the law has been applied to a case of national significance, following a previous instance in early July in Teramo: there, Deputy Public Prosecutor Elisabetta Labanti had opted for the same approach in the case of the Carabinieri officer driving the SUV who, during a chase, had collided with Massimo Ciarelli’s scooter; Ciarelli later died from his injuries. In that case too, no charge was brought for vehicular homicide, but a separate note was made.

The procedure is governed by Article 12 of the decree, which amends Article 335 of the Code of Criminal Procedure: where it ‘appears evident’ that the act was committed in the presence of a justifying ground – self-defence, lawful use of weapons, or the fulfilment of a duty – the public prosecutor does not enter the name in the ordinary registers, but makes a preliminary note. If no further investigations are required, the application to dismiss the case must be made within thirty days.

That is precisely where the balance lies: the law neither excludes criminal liability nor replaces the decision to drop a case, but it does shift the point at which a name formally appears in an investigation.