Primary targets are NGO workers, housing rights activists, and anarchists
Criminalising social struggles and dissent as an instrument of political action: according to several experts, this is the true goal of the security laws pushed by Giorgia Meloni’s government, starting with the security bill that was approved last June. But the measure, increasing penalties and strengthening investigative techniques, comes after years of normalising stakeouts, wiretaps, spyware, and undercover ops, all in the name of greater security. The real goal was not to bring criminals to justice, but to monitor and map activist groups and, now, even political parties.
In a nutshell
As the new security bill is signed into law, lawyers and jurists argue that social struggles will be increasingly criminalised. They blame the introduction of new felonies and the strengthening of various investigative techniques, such as the use of wiretaps, spyware, and undercover agents
Even before the security bill, several trials have criminalised specific social groups: operators and activists rescuing migrants at sea (trials resulting from the maxi-investigation Iuventa), opposing migrant detention facilities such as the CPRs (operation Scintilla), and helping the homeless in cities such as Milan (trial against the Committee for Housing in Giambellino)
To conclude investigations, prosecutors make extensive use of wiretapping, which is useful for anti-mafia investigations, but not always as effective elsewhere
The charges for which wiretapping was allowed – criminal conspiracy and subversion – did not hold up during the trials that IrpiMedia analysed
The effects of these investigations and trials are destructive, leading to the criminalisation and abrupt ending of solidarity initiatives
