A letter from anarchist comrade Anna Beniamino about Operation Scripta Manent and more… (Italy)

SCRIPTA MANENT

The prosecution in Turin have decided to put an entire anarchist tendency on trial: anti-organisation Anarchism. This isn’t a sensationalist and defensive overstatement, it’s what Turin’s investigating judge, Anna Ricci, enacted with the arrest warrants issued in July 2016, and enforced in September, probably to avoid disrupting the summer holidays of some pubic official.

The inquisitors’ choice is clear from the ridiculous framework that appeared in the arrest warrant papers, a product of the deleterious encounter between the mind of some cop and the rushed reading of a wikipedia summary.

The framework gives shape to a repressive-Manichean vision of a ‘social anarchy’, a good and harmless one, and an (anti-social and anti-classist) ‘individual anarchy’, violent and palatable to repression, whose method is the ‘anti-organization model’.

By making the necessary distinctions, this framework aims to define a specific camp, to create a cage, so that from a generic ‘insurrectionism’, (a sub-product of the anti-organization model), always violent and liable to punishment to varying degrees, sub-species can be pulled out to form different strands of the investigation1 for Italian cops: ‘classic insurrectionism’, ‘social insurrectionism’, ‘eco insurrectionism’ and the ‘informal anarchist federation’.

That different tensions and tendencies exist within Anarchism is a fact, but it’s also true that this type of rigid categorisation is an inherent feature of the mindset and requirements of the inquisitors, who are set on delineating a specific area in order to make their manoeuvres as best they can: it is within this space that the following operation lies.

Historically, solidarity with revolutionary prisoners has been a focal point of interest for anarchists and a way to come together and build a rebellious sensibility: revolutionary solidarity not solidarity with revolutionaries.

Devised by Turin’s Digos and prosecutors back in 2012, in the wake of 20 years of recurring and failed repressive attempts, operation Scripta Manent led to the arrest of 5 anarchists: A.M., V.S., D.C., M.B., A.B., all already under investigation and/or arrested following various anarchist publications on action and repression, specifically, Pagine in Rivolta 2, the Croce Nera Anarchica bulletin3, KNO3 4. In addition, there were the arrest warrants for A.C. and N.G., two comrades in prison since 2012 following an attack on the managing director of Ansaldo Nucleare, Adinolfi, which was claimed in court in October 2013 as the Olga Nucleus (FAI/FRI). For years, they’d been known as the editors of Pagine in Rivolta and Alfredo had already been prosecuted for KNO3.

Four other anarchists have been put under investigation, all of whom were imprisoned during the Ardire operation 5, part of which converges into these current legal proceedings, along with 4 more whose arrests the judge refused to validate in the July warrant and led to the prosecutor’s unsuccessful appeal attempt in October 2016. In addition, 32 raids were carried out across Italy, during which a comrade and editor of CNA was arrested and is still being held in prison under the AS2 regime6.

-The investigation is still underway-

The operation is being led by prosecutor Roberto Sparagna, new to so-called anti-terrorism proceedings but well-known for having run trials for so-called organised crime. It is unknown whether this operation was down to him or the input of Turin cops: the latter seems much more likely, as the bulk of the investigation was conducted and archived by the Digos over the years and because of little picturesque background events like the “greetings from Dr. Petronzi” (Turin’s ex-Digos chief), which Sparagna made sure to extend to the arrested during one of his interrogation attempts.

It matters little whether the prosecutor is essentially a puppet/ventriloquist or whether he’s driven by his own will; the declared intent is to repress and silence an anarchist component that has always supported, and continues to support, direct action, solidarity with revolutionary prisoners, the multiform practices of anarchist destructive action and permanent rebellion against political conformism and compliance inside and outside the milieus of the movement.

Everyone is charged with article 270bis, some since 2003, others since 2008 7 relating to FAI/FRI to various degrees, as both ‘promoters/organisers’, as well as ‘participants’.

A.C. and N.G. are also charged with article 280bis for a string of attacks8 carried out from 2005 to 2007 on the basis of what is defined as a ‘serious investigative framework’ even if, in actual fact, the same comrades had already been investigated by the same cops, with the same ‘evidence’ both shortly after the same events and in 20129, using the usual armoury of phone tapping, eavesdropping, video recording, tailing, DNA sampling, etc. and the cases had been archived.

Launched on the back of the 2012 arrests, this investigation is an attempt to apply an associative charge to the case of Adinolfi’s wounding and to investigate a whole political area of comrades who expressed solidarity with those arrested and with their action: the cops used article 270bis and their so-called ‘crimes of intent’, in order to sift through what had already passed through the hands of various Italian prosecutors, putting everything together under their jurisdiction by reviving and rehashing a series of case files that had previously been archived.

This attempt to bring everything together is also mentioned in the judicial order itself and had seeped into the media quite extensively in recent years, as well as in August 2016, with newspaper articles that described ‘anti-terrorism summits’ held between the different prosecutors and made grand claims of ‘bad masters’ and ‘violent infiltrators’ in contexts that in themselves, were democratically acceptable.

This time, having followed a temporal and logical format that inverts the classic action/repression sequence, repression is retroactively looking for unsolved actions and political positions consolidated over the course of 20 years, as a restraint and a warning against the current “excessive” shows of solidarity. These are clearly aimed at repressing unwelcome solidarity and the spread of an anarchist feeling that openly talks about prisoners and actions, publishes and supports them.

The cops’ ambitions aimed even higher, as evident in the raids, failed arrests and most of all, in the accusatory framework that spans 20 years of anarchist actions and publications.

The excursus begins with the Marini trial10 in 1996 and ends with the current Croce Nera Anarchica, tracing an optimal line that starts from critiques of how the Marini Trial was handled, passes through the various articles and claims presented in Pagine in Rivolta, KNO3 and CNA, and ends with writings containing discussions and calls to be present at the Adinolfi trial (WITH OUR HEADS HELD HIGH and HERE AND NOW) and finally, with today’s CNA.

This is why it is not an overstatement to claim that this legal proceeding is one that is being extended to an anarchist feeling, even if it is trying to hone in on the circle: cornerstones of anti-authoritarian thought and method such as direct action and the rejection of representation, affinity and informality, revolutionary solidarity and mutual aid, become, in the words and paper rubbish of inquisitors, the dangerous raw material that must be repressed as soon as it appears.

It is neither simply a ‘crime of opinion’ that’s being put on trial, nor the censorship of the democratic freedom of expression: this is the war that authority is waging against the bond between thought and action that lies at the basis of anarchism.

By trying to strike publications, blogs or any other means of communication anarchists decide to use, repression only reaffirms the validity of these means: to be a thorn in the side of subjugation and silence.

Anna
Prison of Latina

1 Turin’s prosecutors have produced several judicial proceedings based on this framework in the last two years, which resulted both in the attempts to put 3 eco anarchists who had been previously sentenced in Switzerland for attempted sabotage to IBM, on trial yet again for article 270bis and to investigate and charge anarchists engaged in a solidarity fund for prisoners, with raids and warrants, using the same article 270bis.

2 Pagine in Rivolta was published under the subtitle ‘revolutionary anarchist periodical’ from 1997 to 2002, with 14 issues that had a variable circulation that reached one thousand copies. It had articles of analysis and critique of the anarchist movement, chronologies of direct actions, claims, prisoners’ lists and news on repression.

3 [The first of the Black Cross series in the Italian language was the historical version published from 1969 to 1973 in support of Spanish anti-Francoists, with the additional involvement of Pino Pinelli and Stuart Christie’s Anarchist Black Cross.] The CNA bulletin targeted by repression is the one published from 2001 to 2005, and today’s CNA published since 2014 with a blog and a journal. The editors of Croce Nera Anarchica of 2001/2005 were the targets of the 2005 ‘Operation Croce Nera’, a 270bis operation, which led to the arrests of seven comrades that led to no avail, 3 of whom are among those investigated within Scripta Manent.

4 KNO3 came out in 2008 as a single issue that was subtitled ‘revolutionary anarchist paper’. In 2008 it was the object of a 270bis investigation, ‘Operation Shadow’, led by Perugia’s prosecutor Emanuela Comodi, in collaboration with the ROS carabinieri forces, in which the associative crime was dropped during the first degree trial; in 2015 the appeal trial resulted in a sentence against A.C. and A.B., whilst a third comrade was put under investigation for article 302 with the aggravating circumstance of terrorism linked to articles published in KNO3; other comrades were sentenced for the sabotage of a railway track and for car theft.

5 ‘Operation Ardire’ began in Perugia with prosecutor Comodi, in collaboration with ROS carabinieri forces and led to seven arrests in June 2012. It was based on article 270bis and referred to a series of attacks claimed by FAI/FRI between 2009 and 2012. The jurisdiction of the case passed from Perugia to Milan after a high court ruling in the appeal court, and for some of the accused, S.F., E.D.B.,G.P.S. and G.L.T., it was passed from Milan to Turin and brought into Scripta Manent. All those imprisoned were released in 2013 after serving the maximum term.

6 D.C. was arrested during one of the raids within Scripta Manent after electric material for common use (9-volt batteries and bulbs) was found in his home. Prosecutor Francesca Polino from Rome opened a separated proceeding against him, whilst keeping him in the high security AS2 regime.

7 From 2003, because this is the year identified as the beginning of FAI following the attack on the interior minister at the time, Prodi and because of the text that claimed responsibility for it. For some of the accused, it’s 2008, because they’d already been put under investigation for the same attack, without having been formally charged.

8 This refers to: the explosive device against the RIS carabinieri forces in Parma in October 2005, an action claimed by Coop. Artigiana Fuoco e Affini (occasionally spectacular)/FAI; the explosive/incendiary parcel sent to the then mayor of Bologna Sergio Cofferati in November 2005, also claimed by Coop. Artigiana Fuoco e Affini/FAI; the double explosive attack on the carabinieri training centre in Fossano (CN) in June 2006 claimed by FAI/RAT; the explosive/incendiary parcels sent to the then mayor of Turin Chiamparino, the director of Torino Cronaca Beppe Fossati and placed on the premises of Coema Edilitia, a company involved in the construction of the CIE in Turin in July 2006, all claimed by RAT/FAI; the 3 explosive devices set off in sequence in the Turin neighbourhood of Crocetta in March 2007 and claimed by RAT/FAI.

9 In the summer of 2012, during the investigation and subsequent arrest of A.C. and N.G., prosecutors in various Italian jurisdictions reopened a series of archived case files relating to the attacks that the FAI had claimed over the previous 10 years.

10 In 1995, about thirty anarchists were arrested and put on trial by Rome’s prosecutor Antonio Marini in collaboration with ROS carabinieri forces for article 270bis, in addition to a series of specific offences. The associative charge referring to the so-called ORAI organisation was dropped in 2004 and a sentence for subversive propaganda and other specific offences were confirmed.

translated via actforfree


Croce Nera Anarchica a-periodical, Issue no.3, pages 2-4

Prisión de Latina (Italia): Los censores han confiscado textos de la compañera Anna Beniamino (03/01/2016)

(Recibido el 4/1/17)

La compañera anarquista Anna [ arrestada en la operación «Scripta Manent» ] nos ha escrito para comunicarnos que por primera vez han bloqueado las cartas que envía hacia afuera de la prisión.
Se trata de dos textos para el 4º número de la publicación «Croce Nera Anarchica» [ revista «Cruz Negra Anarquista» ]
Los textos en cuestión han sido enviados a mi y al compa Alfredo Cóspito.

La plaga sobre ti!

Omar Nioi/C.N.A

(Traducido por Traces of Fire)

 

Prison of Latina [Italy]: The Censorship confiscated the texts by anarchist comrade Anna Beniamino (03/01/2016)

(Received 4/1/17)

The anarchist comrade Anna [arrested in Op. “Scripta Manent] write us that for the first time her outgoing mail has been blocked.
It’s about two texts for the 4th issue of publishing project “Croce Nera Anarchica” [Anarchist Black Cross magazine].
The texts concerned has been sent to me and to comrade Alfredo Cospito.

The Plague Upon You!

Omar Nioi/C.N.A.

(Original version : autistici.org)

C.C.F. – For Alfreddo and Anna – until we meet.

181789-pirines

(We received 24/10/16)

In Italy, comrade Alfredo Cospito since October 3rd and comrade Anna Beniamino since October 10th, are on a hunger strike against the isolation imposed on them and on the anarchists imprisoned for the attacks of FAI too (“scripta manent” operation). We know that the struggle against authority is unequal ..Nevertheless we choose the war for freedom instead of the peace of fear.

Because we know that there are “free” people, which are more slaves than the prisoners, and alive people more dead than most of our dead comrades who fell in the battle for freedom.

Because for every battle that we lose, a new one begins.

“Because if I don’t get burnt, if you don’t get burnt, how will the darkness turn to shining…”

For us solidarity is not simply a “touching” word, but a way of life, of becoming people with the dream as our measure.

We stand by our comrades Alfredo and Anna with all our heart and mind, until our dream meeting..

STRENGTH AND SOLIDARITY TO THE COMRADES HUNGER STRIKERS ALFREDO COSPITO AND ANNA BENIAMINO

NEVER REGRETFUL NEVER DEFEATED

CCF / FAI- Urban Guerrilla Core

George Polydoros

Economidou Olga

Gerasimos Tsakalos

Christos Tsakalos

Korydallos prison.

[Athens] About the hunger strike of Alfredo Cospito and Anna Beniamino in the italian prisons

r7xnf2w

We will analyze nothing and we won’t come out with sterile and bleak fanfares. Our solidarity with our imprisoned comrades in Italy is a given fact. In any case, the complex of the ascendent relationships is totally rival to us and we are in war with all its expressions, especially with its armed forms (repression, correction). From authority and its flock we expect the worst, and we can’t treat in a different tactical way, if we want to cause even the minimum serious hurt. From our position, we perceive the hunger strike, except from means of resistance against repression, also as means of extortion and exploitation of the humanitarian mask that the states try to have in the eyes of the european cultural stage, and as this (means) we hope to have effect and cause the retreat of the enemy.

STRENGTH, OUR BROTHERS/SISTERS
WE DON’T LET OUR IMPRISONED COMRADES IN THE HANDS OF REPRESSION
ATTACK RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW TO ANY EXPRESSION OF THE AUTHORITARIAN MECHANISM

As a minimum praxis of solidarity with Alfredo and Anna, we hung a banner that says:

Alfredo, Anna, STRENGTH!
In hunger strike inside the cells, against isolation
and repression that the state imposes
NOTHING IS OVER! THE WAR IS RAGING

Uroborus

[Αθήνα] Για την απεργία πείνας του Alfredo Cospito και της Anna Beniamino στις ιταλικές φυλακές

r7xnf2w

Μετά την επιχείρηση ”Scripta Manent” των μπάτσων στην Ιταλία και τη σύλληψη των συντρόφων με κατηγορίες συμμετοχής σε δράσεις της FAI/IRF, τα συντρόφια έχουν μεταφερθεί σε 4 διαφορετικές φυλακές και βρίσκονται σε πτέρυγες υψίστης ασφαλείας, όλ#  σε καθεστώς απομόνωσης και μεγάλου βαθμού λογοκρισίας.

Ο σύντροφος Alfredo Cospito έχει ξεκινήσει από τις 3 Οκτώβρη απεργία πείνας, ενάντια στην απομόνωση και τους περιορισμούς που του έχουν επιβληθεί στην επικοινωνία του με τον Nicola Gai, και η συντρόφισσα Anna Beniamino έχει επίσης ξεκινήσει απεργία πείνας από τις 10 Οκτώβρη, ενάντια στην απομόνωση που έχει επιβληθεί σε όλα τα συντρόφια που συνελήφθησαν στην επιχείρηση ”Scripta Manent”, και σε αλληλεγγύη με τον Alfredo.

” Συνειδητά χρησιμοποιώ την απεργία πείνας σαν ένα εργαλείο που εκφράζει ένα ελάχιστο σημάδι αντίδρασης στις βαρβαρότητες που έχουν τις ρίζες τους στην αιχμαλωσία και την εξουσία. Όπως πάντα, διατηρώ την αναρχία στην καρδιά και το μυαλό μου, διαθέτω αγάπη και σεβασμό για όλους τους αδάμαστους συντρόφους εντός και εκτός των φυλακών, με την οργή στα δόντια μου και ένα χαμόγελο στα χείλη μου. ” – Απόσπασμα απ’ την ανακοίνωση της Anna για την απεργία πείνας που ξεκίνησε.

Δε θα αναλύσουμε τίποτα και δε θα εκστομίσουμε στείρες και ψυχρές φανφάρες. Η αλληλεγγύη μας στα αιχμάλωτα αδέρφια μας στην Ιταλία είναι δεδομένη. Σε κάθε περίπτωση, το σύμπλεγμα των κυρίαρχων σχέσεων μας είναι πλήρως εχθρικό και είμαστε σε πόλεμο με κάθε έκφανσή του, πόσο μάλλον με τις οπλισμένες του μορφές (καταστολή, σωφρονισμός). Από την εξουσία και το ποίμνιό της περιμένουμε τα χειρότερα, και δεν μπορούμε να συμπεριφερθούμε τακτικά αλλιώς, αν θέλουμε να τους προκαλέσουμε έστω το ελάχιστο σοβαρό πλήγμα. Από πλευράς μας, αντιλαμβανόμαστε την απεργία πείνας, πέρα από μέσο αντίστασης ενάντια στην καταστολή, και ως ένα μέσο εκβιασμού και εκμετάλλευσης του ανθρωπιστικού προσωπείου που προσπαθούν να περάσουν τα κράτη στο ευρωπαϊκό πολιτισμικό στερέωμα, και ως τέτοιο (μέσο) ευελπιστούμε να κάνει τη δουλειά του και να προκαλέσει την υποχώρηση του εχθρού.

ΔΥΝΑΜΗ ΑΔΕΡΦΙΑ!
ΔΕΝ ΑΦΗΝΟΥΜΕ ΤΑ ΑΙΧΜΑΛΩΤΑ ΣΥΝΤΡΟΦΙΑ ΜΟΝΑ ΣΤΑ ΧΕΡΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΚΑΤΑΣΤΟΛΗΣ
ΕΠΙΘΕΣΗ ΕΔΩ ΚΑΙ ΤΩΡΑ ΣΕ ΚΑΘΕ ΕΚΦΑΝΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΕΞΟΥΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΟΥ ΜΗΧΑΝΙΣΜΟΥ

Ως ελάχιστη πράξη αλληλεγγύης με τον Alfredo και την Anna, κρεμάσαμε πανό, το οποίο αναγράφει:

Alfredo, Anna, ΔΥΝΑΜΗ!
Σε απεργία πείνας μέσα στα κελιά, ενάντια στην απομόνωση
και την καταστολή που επιβάλλει το κράτος
ΤΙΠΟΤΑ ΔΕΝ ΤΕΛΕΙΩΣΕ! Ο ΠΟΛΕΜΟΣ ΜΑΙΝΕΤΑΙ

Uroborus

 

Prison of Latina, letter from anarchist Anna Beniamino – Italy

Today – Monday 10th October – I decided to start a hunger strike against
the isolation that I am being subjected to along with other comrades who
are part of this investigation, from the moment of our arrest on 6th
September. This isolation has remain unchanged, despite comrades having
been transferred to different AS2 sections and the custodial
interrogations that have taken place. In solidarity with Alfredo Cospito
who is on hunger strike since 3rd October and is being held in isolation
in the AS2 section of Ferrara prison.
I knowingly use the hunger strike as an instrument that expresses a
minimal sign of reaction to barbarities that are rooted in captivity and
authority.
As always, I keep anarchism in my heart and mind, hold love and respect
for all the untamable comrades outside and inside prison, have rage in
my teeth and a smile on my lips.
Anna
———-
From CNA 15th October

(via : actforfree.nostate)

Italy – Anarchist Comrades Anna and Alfredo on Hunger Strike and Updated addresses for the 8 comrades:

63

As of 11th October the comrades arrested as part of the operation “Scripta  Manent” have been transferred to 4 different prisons and are all in High Security AS2 sections – all in isolation. They are all subject to censorship in prison – 7 of the comrades have official censorship – but they have all received at least some post and telegrams. As far as we know, they cannot write to each other but we know that Anna received a telegram from Nicola. The comrades inside have asked to receive books, communiqués and as much news as possible.   
Updated addresses for the 8 comrades:  
BISESTI MARCO: Strada Alessandria, 50/A – 15121 San Michele, Alessandria (AL)
MERCOGLIANO ALESSANDRO: Strada Alessandria, 50/A – 15121 San Michele, Alessandria (AL)
BENIAMINO ANNA: Via Aspromonte, 100  –  04100 – Latina LT
CREMONESE DANILO EMILIANO:  Str. delle Campore, 32  –  05100 Terni TR
SPEZIALE VALENTINA: Via Aspromonte, 100  –  04100 – Latina LT
ALFREDO E NICOLA – are both still in Ferrara AS2
CORTELLI DANIELE: Str. delle Campore, 32  –  05100 Terni TR
 Comrades Anna and Alfredo on Hunger Strike
Since 3rd October, Alfredo is on hunger strike against isolation and the restrictions that have been placed on his contact with Nicola. He was put in isolation over one month ago due to his act of solidarity with the CCF and for the operation Scripta Manent. Since 10th October Anna Beniamino has also begun a hunger strike against isolation inside.

(via : actforfree.nostate)

Italy [Op. Scripta Manent]: Current addresses of anarchists captured on September 6th

 

fai2

 

On September 6th 2016, Torino’s section of the DIGOS antiterrorist unit unleashed an anti-anarchist operation under the name “Scripta Manent”. House searches were conducted in various regions of Italy. Anarchists Alfredo Cospito and Nicola Gai, incarcerated since September 2012 for kneecapping Adinolfi (Olga Cell FAI/FRI), received a new arrest notification in prison. Additionally, six arrests were made on the outside (five in the context of this operation; one as outcome of a house search).

Operation Scripta Manent seeks to attribute to the accused a series of actions claimed by FAI (Informal Anarchist Federation) in Italy. Therefore, the comrades Marco, Sandrone, Anna, Danilo and Valentina, alongside Alfredo and Nicola, are likely to face charges of “subversive association with terrorist intent”.

Below are their mailing addresses (that may change at any time):

Marco Bisesti
Alessandro Mercogliano

C.R. Rebibbia, Via Raffaele Majetti 70, 00156 Roma, Italia

Anna Beniamino
C.C. Via Aurelia nord km 79,500 n. snc 00053 Civitavecchia, Italia

Emiliano Danilo Cremonese
C.C. Via San Donato 2, 65129 Pescara, Italia

Valentina Speziale
C.C. Via Ettore Ianni 30, 66100 Chieti, Italia

Nicola and Alfredo are held in the AS2 wing of Ferrara prison:

Nicola Gai
Alfredo Cospito

C.C. Via dell’Arginone 327, 44122 Ferrara, Italia

Daniele, an editor of Croce Nera Anarchica, was captured that same day in the context of another arrest proceeding, after police found some batteries and an electrician’s manual in his apartment. He is likely to face charges of “possession of materials for the manufacture of explosive devices”.

The comrade can be contacted at:

Daniele Cortelli
C.C. Regina Coeli, Via della Lungara 29, 00165 Roma, Italia

Sources in Italian: Informa-azione & CNA; in English:ActForFreedomNow

(via contrainfo)