G8 Trial: Mario Placanica doesn’t attend. His fellow Dario Baffone is there but he remembers little, nothing, and also badly. The saga of Piazza Alimonda went back in the limelight yesterday during the trial to 25 protesters for the events of the G8 in Genoa. At least two of the three carabinieri who were presumably on the Defender from where the shot that killed Carlo Giuliano was fired were expected to give evidence. And their squad Commander: Giuseppe Zappia. Placanica sent in a medical certificate to justify his absence. The now former carabiniere, after changing his version of the events at least five times, presently finds himself in the eye of the storm for being suspended for life from the Army and having announced not well defined “actions of protest”. Raffone, instead, attended court; he says that he went to the G8 after only a few months of training- the cadet school and a special G8 training, yet he doesn’t seem to remember anything about those days in Genoa. He is unable to give any indication at all, not even approximate, on times, dates, places, and circumstances- so much as to provoke indignant grumbling in court and a certain bewilderment in the presidency itself. Only on one point Raffone claims to have a clear and sure memory: in that handful of minutes preceding the shot, he crouched on the Land Rover floor, protected by Placanica’s body. A thesis supported by Placanica himself at the time. Yet, this account of events clashes with the high definition photos obtained by the court yesterday, where it can clearly be seen that the person lying down and covered by another officier is the one who grips the gun. What then, is it Raffone or Placanica? At this point, facing such an evident contradiction, the carabiniere Raffone makes up his mind to not recognize himself in the picture. Back to tackle then one of the most controversial points of the dynamics in Piazza Alimonda: how many people and who was on the Defender from which Carlo Giuliani was shot dead?
In court Raffone showed himself very unsettled, almost reticent, also on what he did soon after the shooting and how long did it take him to get to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries: “Ten minutes, or an hour” is something the defence asked him in vain to specify. The right answer was 1 hour and 20 minutes as it is reported on the accident and emergency minutes.
What the Defender would have done during this time was instead partly explained by the following witness, Raffone and Placanica’s Squad Commander, Giuseppe Zappia. Lucid and precise, Zappia says that the Defender soon after the events would have gone to San Giuliano Headquarters. To do what, is for now not to be known. So precise is Zappia in describing places and times, as he is curiosly vague about what happened in Piazza Alimonda: he didn’t see, he didn’t notice, he shows himself surprised at what he sees on the videos. He agrees though to having recognized Captain Cappello of Tuscania Battalion by the body of Carlo Giuliani.

Trancripts of the hearings can be read at:  https://supportolegale.org.

Full article in italian at:  http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/04-Maggio-2005/art48.html