Fifteen Italians including police officers, doctors and prison guards were found guilty of abusing and beating protesters at the G8's 27th summit in Genoa in 2001. A judge handed down jail terms between five months' and five years' imprisonment. The charges include abuse, fraud, criminal coercion and inhuman and degrading treatment. Another thirty defendants were cleared of charges, including assault.In June last year former deputy police chief of Genoa, Michelangelo Fournier, belatedly admitted in court that police had "butchered" protesters. In a graphic description of the violence he said he had kept quiet until then "out of shame and a spirit of comradeship".
The heaviest sentence was five years for Biagio Gugliotta in the penitentiary police department, the commander on duty at the camp at Bolzaneto. Twelve other police officers, eight men and four women, received jail terms of five to 28 months. Doctors Giacomo Toccafondi and Aldo Amenta were given 14 months and 10 months respectively. Dr. Toccafondi was accused of insulting detainees and failing to inform authorities after they were sprayed with asphyxiating gas in cells. The judges issued their verdicts after 11 hours of closed-doors deliberations.All those convicted are expected to appeal and none will go to prison until the appeals process is complete, which normally takes years. The sentences totalled less than a third of 76 years what had been demanded by the prosecution. The BBC's David Willey in Rome says it is unlikely that any of those sentenced will actually serve time in prison because their offences will have expired under Italy's statute of limitations before the appeal process is completed. It is expected the Italian government will be forced to pay out millions of pounds to those who were victims of police brutality during their detention.
