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WORLD> Europe
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5 Italian police jailed over G8 summit riots
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-11 14:04 ROME -- A court in Genoa Wednesday sentenced five Italian police officers, including a former deputy police chief, to prison for "illegal arrests" and "libel" during a violent crackdown on anti-globalisation protesters at a G8 summit in 2001.
The former deputy prefect of police, Alessandro Perugini, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. The others received terms of from one year 10 months to two years and three months. The court said that during the G8 demonstrations the police had falsified reports to justify six arrests, including those of a lawyer and a photographer, alleging that the group had thrown stones and shown aggressive behaviour. Last month the Genoa court sentenced 13 other police officers to prison, while acquitting another 16, for the same crackdown. Among those acquitted were the three main officials responsible for maintaining order at the summit held in the northern Italian city. Police officers were accused notably of planting two firebombs on protesters while they were being held at the city's Diaz school, as well as beating protesters and conducting arbitrary searches. One 23-year-old man died in the clashes. The 13 convicted officers were sentenced to a total of 35 years and seven months in prison. The longest single sentence was for four years. In another separate trial in July this year, jail terms were handed down to 15 members of the security forces for crimes committed in a nearby barracks, while 24 anti-globalisation protesters received between five months and 11 years in prison. The clashes during anti-globalisation demonstrations around the Group of Eight industrial powers summit in July 2001 left several hundred people injured and caused millions of euros in damages. |
