After my letter to Manganelli, the head of the Police and his response, the debate continues on the democratization of the security forces and on a different relationship with the citizens. Today we are publishing the important testimony of Vittorio Agnoletto.

Interview with Vittorio Agnoletto:

”My name is Vittorio Agnoletto. I’m a doctor. In July 2011 I was the spokesperson for the Genova Social Forum. 10 years later, I’ve got together with Lorenzo Guadagnucci, one of the victims of the night of terror at the Diaz School to write a book. It’s called “L’eclisse della democrazia, le verità nascoste sul G8 2001 a Genova” {The eclipse of Democracy, the hidden truth about the 2001 G8 in Genoa}. It’s a book that you will never hear mentioned on TV because of the inconvenient truth that it talks about.
I very carefully read the response that Manganelli , the head of the Police gave to Beppe Grillo and I would like to challenge a few points.

...

Reward those convicted
Manganelli said: the promotion of the people who have been convicted happens as a result of automatism. That’s not true. We are not talking about any old promotion, of a matter of people taking part in competitions for promotion. Let’s start by saying that from the first level upwards for promotions, there’s always an element of discretionality that depends directly on the head of the Police.

...

The identification of police officers
Manganelli moves to another point, he says he is willing to have a discussion, but with a lot of resistance, on the issue of the identification codes on the uniforms of the police officers. This is a request that even the Comitato Verità e Giustizia di Genova {Genoa Truth and Justice Commission} already suggested 10 years ago. We have found a brick wall, including the one put up by the police trades unions who are against the measure.

...

Justice and the Police
Manganelli says he is willing to have a public discussion about this with Beppe Grill, out in the streets, to talk about the role and the behaviour of the Police. I think that this would be very relevant. However, I would ask Manganelli to show his willingness with some concrete actions. When he was speaking to a national daily paper a short while ago, he said: “we are willing to answer for everything that the Police has done in the appropriate places.” My question is: why was this not done in the Tribunal? Which is the appropriate place. How is it that most of the directors of the Police made use of their right to remain silent so as not to respond to the questions of the magistrates?

...

Proposals for a better Police force
I’m taking the opportunity to advise all of you to read this book, not just because it reconstructs the days at Genoa solely on the basis of documentary evidence, trial documents, witness statements, documents, wiretapping records, but above all because it reconstructs the 9 years of investigations carried out by the magistrates, magistrates who have been subjected to every form of pressure in an attempt to block their investigations. We are talking of pressure that is definitely not legal.
This book even concludes by putting forward some really precise proposals. I am absolutely convinced that there are many democratic forces within the security forces and that pressure from civil society has to allow these people to come out into the open, to express their ideas, and to put forward their claims.”

...