Trento:  House arrest confirmed for Massimo Passamani [updated]

Tuesday 20th December, at the court of Trento, the review hearing on the pre-trial detention of Massimo Passamani took place. Outside the court, a solidarity gathering was held, followed by a short demonstration through the streets of the city centre.

On their side

The panel of judges confirmed house arrest for Massimo. Apart from the usual argument of criminal records and the tendency to reoffend, there are two noteworthy reasons for this decision. The first is that the solidarity statement to be broadcast on the radio «reports in its content the support and backing of activities of rebellion and riot by prisoners and this outside the democratically established instruments and forms of justice» (no mention from the judges, mind you, of the murders, the beatings and the torture perpetrated by the prison officers under the mandate and cover of the DAP). The second is the defendant’s failure to ‘critically review’ his own conduct. Now, that the reward logic emerges more and more blatantly – in prison as in courtrooms, at work as at school – as an established trend.

Generally speaking, however, recanting – a word that once belonged to the critical-provocative lexicon of revolutionaries and is nowadays integrated without embarrassment into the court vocabulary – was demanded for offences that had already been judged, not for those still on trial. According to this logic, in order to have their precautionary measures revoked, defendants would have to face facts for which they could later be acquitted… In short, we are talking about preventive recantation.

On our side

Participation in the solidarity initiative was heartfelt and widespread. Beyond the numerical figure (about seventy people), the composition of those in solidarity was significant. From the ‘fratti’ of Mori to the ‘no tav’, from the Orvea workers to the BRT porters, passing by the most active grassroots trade unionists in the mobilisation against the ‘green pass’, in the square there was a sort of distillation of the struggles and protests of recent years in Trentino.

There were many speeches and readings of solidarity texts. In the foreground, of course, was support for the hunger strike of Alfredo Cospito, which has now reached its 64th day. In this regard, the very generous solidarity choice of the prisoner Claudio Cipriani was also mentioned, who in solidarity with Alfredo recently renounced all benefits provided by law, and read part of his statement (https://ilrovescio.info/2022/12/18/parole-e-scelta-solidale-con-alfredo-del-prigioniero-claudio-cipriani/). In view of the start of the actual trial – which will take place in Trento on January 13th, and in which the accused, as well as Massimo, are Agnese, Stecco and Juan – the mobilisation continues.

As part of a local fabric against repression and as a ‘springboard’ to talk about what matters most right now: Alfredo out from 41 bis!

Friends and comrades of Massimo