Athens: CLAIMING RESPONSIBILITY IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE HUNGER STRIKER ALFREDO COSPITO
In 2014 the anarchist Alfredo Cospito was sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison because at his trial for shooting the manager of a nuclear plant in the legs he did not make any statements of repentance, but instead defended his action, an action “against the doctrine of technology” according to his words. In 2016 and already in custody, he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, accused of a bomb attack on a carabinieri school in Fossano in 2006.Since 5 May 2022 he has been in solitary confinement (41bis) as part of changes to the Italian penitentiary code.
This regime imposes a reduction of the prisoners’ exercise period to one hour a day and visits with relatives to one hour a month, as well as restrictions on correspondence and reading material. In these ways it forces the prisoners into complete social isolation. Similarly, with the re-establishment of C-type prisons, the amendments to 187 and 187A, the increase of the minimum sentence to 4/5 from 3/5, the frequent DNA-based prosecutions and other amendments to the Sofronist code, it is clear that the treatment of the comrade Cospito is not so far from the standards of the Greek State. Besides, the cooperation between the two States is complemented by their economic support for each other. Of course, despite the apparent differences between them (with the image of the Greek State as more progressive and the Italian State as more conservative), it is obvious that the counter-revolutionary policy is the same regardless of the regime and government.