«The judiciary is sovereign, the ministry cannot intervene on the 41 bis. Opera? No yielding»- Corriere.it

«The judiciary is absolutely sovereign, the ministry cannot intervene. We are required to wait for the ruling of the Cassation”. This was stated by Justice Minister Carlo Nordio during a press conference in the multifunctional hall of Palazzo Chigi speaking of the position of the anarchist leader Alfredo Cospito at 41 bis. The Keeper of the Seals then added: «In the face of violence there is no question. The wave of acts of vandalism proves that the link between the prisoner and his companions remains and would tend to justify the maintenance of 41 bis».

Regarding the transfer of Cospito to the Opera prison, Nordio assured that there is no «minimal yielding of the State», but «the recognition that one thing is the dutiful expiation of the sentence but another thing is the absolute protection of health. Protection of health which is a sacred and mandatory principle”. Then the Interior Minister intervened Matteo Piantedosi: «We are absolutely not conditioned by what are the events of the management of the prisoner Cospito, we will not let ourselves be conditioned by the facts, the path of the 41 bis will proceed as it should. The events of recent days have forced us to reflect on public safety» he added «we will make our assessments with serenity, it’s not that there is a terrorist threat around the corner».

Alfredo Cospito «was transferred for health reasons but he doesn’t change his prison regime, the choice of transfer was made because Opera has perhaps the most efficient health facility in Italy, but the 41 bis does not change» the clarification of the deputy prime minister and foreign minister Antonio Tajani. «By using the force of the law we are responding to those who use the violence of Molotov cocktails and attacks, demonstrating that the state, with the force of the law, does not bend to the threats and blackmail of the violent of any group they belong to. The last 40 days have been marked by more or less serious attacks against diplomatic offices and against diplomatic officials. We gave the immediate alert by raising the security measures, increasing the number of the Carabinieri contingent abroad and asking for collaboration with the police forces of the countries hosting the diplomatic offices. The Farnesina is committed to protecting diplomatic offices all over the world”.

Since the beginning of December, Tajani listed, «there has been a crescendo of attacks terrorists or just demonstrations against state personnel and this is odious because they are state servants who have been threatened and are based in Italian territory even if abroad. The first and perhaps the most serious attack took place on December 2 against the car of the adviser to the Athens embassy Susanna Schlein, there was a real risk of a massacre and it was avoided only because the second Molotov cocktail did not explode, it could have jumped all the building because the car was close to the gas plant». Vandalism against diplomatic offices began between the end of November and December in La Paz, Lugano, Athens, Santiago de Chile, Barcelona, ​​Buenos Aires, Basel, Stuttgart, Porto Alegre, Madrid, Berlin until yesterday in La Plata