Amnesty International Report 1996 - Italy

There were further allegations of torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officers. Verdicts were pronounced in trials relating to two deaths in custody in 1993. Numerous prison officers were involved in criminal proceedings relating to the alleged torture and ill-treatment of prison inmates in previous years. In February Italy ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. A bill reforming the existing legislation governing conscientious objection to compulsory military service (see Amnesty International Reports 1989 to 1995) was approved by the Senate in March and was under consideration by the Chamber of Deputies at the end of the year. Its proposals included broadening the grounds on which conscientious objector status might be granted but did not recognize the right to claim conscientious objector status during military service. There were further allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement officers. Many of the alleged victims were immigrants from outside Europe, and Roma. In October Ben Moghrem Abdelwahab, a Tunisian national, lodged a complaint after being stopped by carabinieri officers in Voghera, apparently on suspicion of carrying drugs. He claimed he was repeatedly slapped and racially insulted both during transfer to the carabinieri barracks and on arrival. He said he was handcuffed behind his back, pushed repeatedly until he fell down and then kicked in the head, back and on his left side. He claimed that when he refused to sign a statement because he was unaware of its contents, a gun was pointed at his head. He then signed, but when he added the words "with reservation" he was slapped again and struck by a metal stapler which was thrown at him. Within hours of his release later that day he was admitted to hospital where he remained for eight days receiving treatment for his injuries. The carabinieri reportedly admitted striking Ben Moghrem Abdelwahab but stated that they had acted in self-defence. Judicial investigations into complaints of ill-treatment were often very slow. Over four months elapsed before Salvatore Rossello, a student nurse, was told that an investigation had been opened into a complaint he had lodged with the Public Prosecutor's office in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Sicily, in June. He had alleged that, while detained in a local carabinieri barracks in May, an officer had verbally abused him, hit him around the head with such force that he was knocked down and struck him several times on the back. After being released without charge he was admitted to hospital for emergency treatment. A medical certificate, issued on his discharge nine days later, recorded a perforated left ear-drum and bruising to his left jaw and shoulder. Verdicts were pronounced in the trials of law enforcement officers prosecuted in connection with two deaths in custody in 1993. In January Turin Assize Court acquitted two police officers of deliberately inflicting injuries leading to the death of Antonio Morabito in December 1993 (see Amnesty International Report 1995). Autopsy and forensic reports had established that he had suffered numerous cuts and bruises and an abdominal injury which caused a fatal intestinal haemorrhage. The Morabito family's appeal against the verdict was rejected. In March the commandant of the carabinieri barracks near Padua where in September 1993 Tarzan Sulic, an 11-year-old Rom, was shot dead and his 13-year-old cousin, Mira Djuric, seriously wounded, was sentenced to two months' imprisonment for abusing his authority and ordered to pay compensation to the children's families. The court found that he had illegally ordered the children to be held in a locked cell, provided no food or drink for five hours and failed to inform the juvenile authorities of their detention. The carabiniere officer who shot Tarzan Sulic pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced in March to 17 months and 10 days' imprisonment, conditionally suspended. Mira Djuric had accused him of ill-treating her and her cousin, holding a gun to the boy's head and threatening to kill him just before it fired. In September the officer was sentenced to three months' suspended imprisonment for infringing regulations by illegal use of a firearm. Several judicial proceedings were still under way during 1995 into alleged ill-treatment by prison officers in previous years. In January the Ministry of Justice confirmed that, as a result of investigations opened in early 1993, six prison officers had been committed for trial for various crimes, including the ill-treatment of some 300 inmates of Secondigliano prison, and stated that criminal proceedings had been opened against a further 65 officers. In November the Public Prosecutor's office stated that the 65 officers had been committed for trial in February 1996. However, there was no news concerning the outcome of Giacomo De Simone's complaint that he had been ill-treated by Secondigliano prison officers in January 1994, or the complaints of ill-treatment lodged by inmates of Sulmona prison during that month, or a judicial investigation opened into the alleged ill-treatment of inmates of Pianosa Island prison in 1992 (see Amnesty International Reports 1993 to 1995). The government authorized the publication, in January, of the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on its visit to places of detention in Rome, Milan and Naples in March 1992, together with its own response. The Committee stated that it had heard a large number of allegations of ill-treatment inflicted by law enforcement officers and concluded that people held by such officers "and particularly those belonging to certain specific categories (such as foreigners, people arrested in connection with drugs-related offences etc), run a not inconsiderable risk of being ill-treated". The Committee also expressed concern about prison overcrowding and stated that, in specific instances, when combined with poor sanitary conditions and a very limited range of activities, the conditions of detention amounted to "inhuman or degrading treatment". It made detailed recommendations aimed at increasing existing safeguards against ill-treatment and improving conditions of detention. In April the UN Committee against Torture considered the government's periodic report on its compliance with the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It expressed alarm over the continuing high level of prison overcrowding and concern over the persistence of ill-treatment by prison and law enforcement officers. It noted that the majority of victims of ill-treatment were either from "certain foreign countries" or belonged to "minorities", and emphasized its concern over "a dangerous trend towards some racism". The Committee also stated that the punishment imposed on law enforcement officers in cases of alleged torture and deaths in custody did not appear proportionate to the gravity of the acts committed. Its recommendations included: creating a specific criminal offence of torture; closely monitoring the implementation of existing safeguards against ill-treatment during initial detention, especially access to medical and legal assistance; ensuring the speedy and effective investigation of complaints of torture and ill-treatment; and the adequate and effective punishment of those responsible. Amnesty International published a report, Italy: Alleged torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement and prison officers, in April and submitted it to the UN Committee against Torture. The report highlighted the increase in the number of such allegations during the 1990s, a high proportion of which concerned immigrants from outside Europe and a growing number of Roma. The organization said it was concerned that elements within some law enforcement agencies might be subjecting detainees to ill-treatment on a regular basis and that, although Italy had adopted certain legislative and administrative measures designed to combat the use of ill-treatment, in practice these were not being fully implemented. The government stated that it would analyse Amnesty International's report.