Italy’s high court upholds Genoa G8 police convictions

Italy’s high court has upheld the convictions of senior police officers found guilty of beating protesters and then orchestrating a cover-up during the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001.

However, none of the 28 who lost their appeals against the 2010 ruling will serve any prison time because of the statute of limitations. In addition, none of the officers lost their jobs and some have even been promoted since the incident.

“It’s a partial end, because the investigation of the case is partial and limited to a finite number of people. In this case there were 28 defendants,” said victims’ lawyer Francesco Romeo.

The convictions relate to the 82 people injured when police stormed a school which anti-globalisation demonstrators were using as their headquarters during the G8 summit.

Security forces accused the protesters of attacking them, however an investigation found many of the demonstrators were asleep when the raid began.

The heavy-handed police response, criticised for being an over-reaction, came a day after fierce clashes on the streets with protesters – one of whom was killed.

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