The accused in Italy is innocent until the third grade of trial, but an entrepreneur would ever hire a convicted for armed robbery? Anyone would ever hire a person sentenced in the first degree for arson as night watchman? Of course not. Yet in Italy all the policemen who have been convicted of serious violence are still in service.
The four officers convicted for the manslaughter of Federico Aldrovandi are still in service and will remain there. One of them has just been sent to manage the public security of the G8 this year. We speak of a man who has kept his boot on the back of a boy who asked for help, after having beaten him savagely, until he stopped moving. In the italian rule of law is difficult to dismiss a civil servant who has committed abuse, until he had every opportunity to appeal. But certainly, at least, it would have been more appropriate to assign him to tasks that do not have anything to do with public security, given his curriculum in the matter. It would be in fact better if the Italian state had the legal mechanisms for efficiently suspend and expel the representatives of law enforcement who have violated the law. It would also be appropriate for their unions and their colleagues to avoid defending them when there such heavy suspicions of guilty.
This actually happens very rarely, indeed almost never. Even the suspension from service of the officer who has killed Gabriele Sandri arrived very late, despite the serious allegations of which he is accused. The cops and executives responsible for the violence at the Genoa G8 are largely still in active service, and some have even made careers.Those who have not curiously are those who have admitted what had happened, and testified against their colleagues.
This mechanism of silence and complicity in favor of policemen who have committed crimes is not only unworthy of a democratic country, but unfortunately resembles more the behavior of a criminal organization than what would be expected from people who are paid by citizens to fight crime.
Francesco Defferrari
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