Cospito, what happened from December to today in 14 points – Corriere.it

Since last May subjected to the prison regime of 41 bis, the anarchist Alfredo Cospito has been on hunger strike for over a hundred days (although at certain times fed with solutions of honey in the morning and supplements in the evening). Leader of the Informal Anarchist Federation-International Revolutionary Front, Cospito was sentenced to over 10 years and 20 years respectively for the attacks on Roberto Adinolfi, CEO of Ansaldo Nuclear, in 2012 and on the Carabinieri barracks in Fossano (Cuneo) in 2006. The 41 bis was inflicted on him by Minister Cartabia (Draghi government) because he was accused of organizing illegal activities despite his imprisonment. The hunger strike to protest against the harsh prison regime fueled the violent actions of the anarchists sympathetic to him.

1: the first attacks

Last December 2, in Athens, the diplomat Susanna Schlein (sister of Elly candidate for the secretariat of the Democratic Party), first councilor of the Italian embassy, ​​had her car set on fire, and an unexploded Molotov cocktail was also found under her home. The fire also damages another car, but there are no injuries. In the previous weeks, writings in support of Cospito had appeared on the walls of the Italian embassy in Athens and, not far away, on those of the Bank of Greece. In May 2012, the informal anarchist federation had claimed responsibility for the placing in Genoa of Roberto Adinolfi, a senior manager of Ansaldo Nucleare (one of Cospito’s charges) signing himself as Olga-Fai. Olga Ekonomidou is the name of the anarchist who at that time was imprisoned in Greece on hunger strike.

2: the second series of attacks

On the night of January 27, two cars were set on fire in Berlin in Starnberger-Strasse in the Schneberg district, south-western part of the city. One of the two cars is a BMW with a diplomatic license plate used by an official of the Italian embassy, ​​Luigi Estero, first adviser to the diplomatic body. According to German security forces, the attack on the Italian official’s car is linked to protests by anarchist groups in support of Cospito. In fact, the claim comes soon. Again on the night of January 27, five people enter the Italian Consulate General in Barcelona and, after breaking a window, they smear a wall at the entrance to the building. The five write on the wall Libert per Cospito, total Amnesty and homicidal Italian State. The five were arrested by the Catalan regional police and released the same day. The writings are deleted. Before starting the investigations, and hypothesizing crimes, the Rome prosecutor’s office will have to receive the information from the Digos and the carabinieri.

3: the clashes in Rome

On January 28 in Rome, in the Trastevere district, clashes between the police and some exponents of the anarchist area demonstrating in Piazza Trilussa. A group of about forty people, including some anarchists and students present at the demonstration, took refuge in a garage in via dei Panieri, where they were blocked by the police. The police took several demonstrators to the police station for identification.

4: The new attacks

On the night of 29 January, two cars were burned in the local police headquarters in via Tibaldi in Milan. In the following anarchist claim, we read: Solidarity with Alfredo Cospito. Freedom for Anna, Juan, Ivan, Dayvid. We attack the state. Meanwhile, a banner appears in the night on the Naviglio Pavese bridge with an inscription against hard prison: 41bis equals torture. In solidarity with Alfredo. On 30 January, five Tim company cars were set on fire by unknown persons who managed to break into the external parking lot of the telephone company headquarters, in via val di Lanzo 139, in the Monte Sacro district, in Rome. Also in Rome, on an electrical substation then written the A for anarchy and No 41 bis with a can of black paint, while the word Black block appears outside the wall surrounding the parking lot. Then comes the anarchist claim: Let the murderous state and the bosses know that this is only the beginning and more than a threat, a promise. In the fight against the 41 bis. In Rome, moreover, the launch of a Molotov cocktail against the Prenestino police station follows, other writings in Porta Maggiore, while in Turin, the cables of the Torre Bert pylon, a mobile phone repeater, are set on fire. Also in this case the attack can be traced back to the anarchist area because the inscription Fuori Cospito 41 bis is found near the pylon. Bullets are aimed at the Attorney General Francesco Saluzzo (prosecutor of the Cospito trial) and at the director of the Tuscan newspaper The Tyrrhenian Sea (accompanied by a message on Cospito). On January 31, the threatening phone call and letter to the editorial staff of the Rest of the Pug of Bologna against the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the defense minister, Guido Crosetto.

5: the transfer to Opera

Due to the ongoing hunger strike and precarious health conditions (the weight dropped from over one hundred kilograms to less than seventy), on 31 January Cospito was transferred from the prison of Sassari to that of Opera (Milan). Alfredo Cospito will not accept food supplies and will continue his hunger strike, his lawyer said. The only new element with this transfer is that the Opera structure has specialists able to intervene promptly in the event of an emergency.

6: the Donzelli case

From news stories we also move on to politics. The case breaks out in parliament on February 1, in Montecitorio. FdI deputy Giovanni Donzelli (vice-president of Copasir) reveals the circumstance of conversations in Cospito prison (despite the 41 bis) collected by prison officers and then, through the Dap, sent to the Ministry of Justice, in which Cospito discusses with members of the Camorra and the ‘Ndrangheta on how to oppose 41 bis and life imprisonment. Chaos breaks out in the Chamber, because Donzelli recalls that in those days four members of the Democratic Party had gone to see Cospito in Sassari. Angelo Bonelli of Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra files a complaint with the Rome prosecutor’s office and the Chamber decides to entrust the matter to a jury of honour.

7: Nordio’s words

Andrea Delmastro, FdI, undersecretary of Justice, is also called into question because he informed Donzelli, even if he denies incorrect behavior. The Keeper of the Seals, Carlo Nordio, the following day, finally affirmed in Parliament that the information disclosed was sensitive but not secret. Meanwhile the magistrates of Turin, competent on the facts of Cospito, confirm that the anarchist must remain in 41 bis, while the premier Giorgia Meloni explains on TV that Cospito already in 1991, in prison, after a hunger strike had been pardoned, but once outside he had gone to shoot people.

8: the positions of the parties

Majority and opposition are at odds. Centre-left and third pole call for the resignations of Donzelli and Delmastro, say they are disappointed by Nordio’s communication and go on the attack against the arguments of Donzelli himself, accused of having conflated circumstances (Cospito’s activities with mafiosi and visits by parliamentarians in prison) which have nothing to do with it. In the center-right, Meloni takes time to intervene on the fuss unleashed by Donzelli, while exponents of Forza Italia, such as Giorgio Mul, distance themselves from the defense of the allies by appealing for guarantees.

9: events at risk

While Cospito, met by regional councilor Michele Usuelli of +Europa/Italian Radicals, says he does not approve of the actions of his comrades, adding that he is nobody to say what they should do, anarchist activists and sympathizers prepare for street protests in his support . Meanwhile, the Faculty of Letters of the Sapienza University of Rome is occupied. Alongside Alfredo, against the 41 bis, this is the banner displayed on the facade of the university. At the end of the meeting in solidarity with Cospito, the initials Osa and Cambiare Rotta gave way to the occupation. All and all free, the student choir. The institutions are defined as Assassins by Alfredo Cospito.

10: undersecretaries under escort

On February 3, in an interview Delmastro declared that the Democratic Party will have to explain to public opinion that bow to the mafiosi referring to the visit of the four dem parliamentarians to the Sassari prison. The Democratic Party announces lawsuits, while Delmastro, and his colleague and counterpart Andrea Ostellari (with responsibility for the treatment of prisoners), end up under guard because they are at risk of safety for the Cospito affair. In short, the political controversy shows no sign of dying down.