[www-features] feature about an episode of police brutality in Italy

[obaz]

Hallo :)
The Italian indymedia editorial list would like to suggest this feature
for publication on IMC International. This story could seem
insignificant at an international level, but as is explained in the
first paragraph, we consider it a clear sign of the general brutal
attitude of Italian police forces, a brutal attitude which many have
experienced in Genoa, but that we Italians, and most of all immigrants,
sadly experience in their everyday life.

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HEADER: Just Another Police Killing?

TITLE: Boy Killed by Police in Italy

IMAGE: http://italy.indymedia.org/images/manganello2.jpg

ABSTRACT: On September 24th, 2005, Federico Aldrovandi, an
18-years-old boy, died in the hands of the police in Ferrara, Italy. The
police denies and says Federico died from a drugs overdose, but the news
has started spreading thanks to his family's blog.
This could seem an ordinary story, but it is just another sign of the
brutal attitude of Italian police forces against anyone who does not
correspond to their standards of normality, be it immigrants, dissidents
or just young people walking alone at night.

TEXT:
This is a story of an Italian boy of 18, of a life broken by the police,
a story which at first sight could seem normal, that is.<br />
Indeed, it is a really normal story, a story which has already become a
cliche. Many have heard of or directly experienced the brutality of
Italian police in Genoa, but in Italy police is not only brutal at
political demonstrations: its feats have ancient roots in the fascist
regime and continue in everyday life, with wilder and wilder beatings of
civilians and most of all of immigrants. This is why we want to tell
this story: because we think that cases like this (but also like <a
href="http://www.ogrish.com/archives/moroccan_immigrant_beaten_by_italian_police_Feb_27_2006.html">
this</a>, a recent cruel beating of an immigrant by police forces) are
symbols of the neofascist regime Italy is more and more turning into.
<br /><br />
In the early morning of September 24th, 2005, Federico Aldrovandi, an
18-years-old boy, died in the hands of the police in Ferrara, Italy.<br />
They left him for five hours on the ground, initially hiding the truth
to his mother, who had called them to inquire about him. The police
version reports phone calls from people of the neighbourhood, alarmed by
the odd behaviour of the boy, who allegedly fainted when arrested.<br />
Nobody can say what actually happened. The police  deny every
responsibility for his death, maintaining that he hurt himself and died
due to drugs overdose. According to toxicological exams, overdose cannot
possibly have been the reason for Federico Aldrovandi's death, and the
plaintiffs' experts' report proved that Federico died of postural
asphyxia: he had been actually handcuffed and forced on his stomach and
at least one person had exerted pressure on his back.<br />
Details as described by medical referees, which have recently been made
official after four months waiting, mention numerous signs of violence
over his whole body, a bruised laceration on his head,
violet coloured stripes by handcuffs on his wrists, and his scrotum
smashed, but they differ from the plaintiffs' experts' report, since
they identify morphine amongst the causes of Federico's death (even if
morphine couldn't possibly induce in him such a violent behaviour as
reported by the police).<br />
The news remained unknown for months. Only recently has the silence been
broken by a <a
href="http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2006/01/965388_comment.php#1006723">blog
opened by the boy's family</a>, who is asking that light be thrown on
the event. Wishing to react to the attempts to hide the truth,
Federico's mother, who received her son's clothes literally soaked with
blood, has published her son's photo shot after the beating, a photo
which is very harsh and revealing.<br />