Thursday, March 11, 2010, by EveryOne Group
EveryOne Activists: the Euro MP, Renate Weber, poses a parliamentary question to the European Council and European Commission.
Bruxelles, March 10th, 2010. The Honourable Renate Weber, a Romanian MEP, lawyer and human rights activist, has posed two parliamentary questions concerning the case of two human rights defenders from EveryOne Group. Roberto Malini and Dario Picciau were issued a penal order in Pesaro while carrying out their human rights activities in defence of the local Roma community which is presently undergoing persecution from the Italian institutions.
The two human rights defenders were sentenced without trial to a month’s imprisonment, which was then commuted to a heavy fine. The case is already the subject of a parliamentary question in Italy, Frontline - the principal organization that protects human rights defenders - has adopted a firm stance, and the activists have received the support of other human rights associations, intellectuals, and democratic citizens from all over the world.
Following, the questions put forward by the MEP Renate Weber to the European Council and European Commission, thanks also to the intervention of the ALDE representative, Ottavio Marzocchi, a member of the Radicals’ association “Certi Diritti”, who has been defending human rights for many years.
In the photographs, the Euro MP, Renate Weber
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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS
AUTHOR(S): Renate WEBER
To the: EUROPEAN COUNCIL & EUROPEAN COMMISSION
SUBJECT: Sentencing of Human Rights Defenders in Italy because of their humanitarian work
On February 12th, 2010, Human rights defenders Mr Roberto Malini and Dario Picciau, co-presidents of EveryOne Group, international human rights organization based in Italy, received notification of a penal order, with the prison sentence commuted into a heavy fine of 2.280 euro, on the basis that “in complicity with each other, they caused the interruption, or at least disturbed a police operation aimed at identifying three foreign citizens, and used abusive language towards the officers from Pesaro-Urbino Police Headquarters, and interfered in the carrying out of their duty” in accordance with Articles 110 and 340 of the Italian Penal Code.
As for the case in question, Roberto Malini and Dario Picciau stated that on the evening of 20 December 2008 a police officer was talking in an inappropriate and arrogant manner to a young Roma man, Mr. Nico Grancea. When Malini and Picciau greeted Grancea - whom they knew very well as they had been offering him assistance for over a year - the officer ordered them to show their ID cards and took note of their details. Then the police officers (the second officer was in the car) left without issuing any notification. Throughout 2008 and in the early months of 2009 Malini and Picciau were repeatedly summoned to police headquarters because of their humanitarian work in defence of the Roma community living in Pesaro. After the protests of the Organization for the endless camp clearances of Roma families (without any offer of assistance) and the illegitimate expulsion of a group of Afghan refugees who had applied for asylum, the Pesaro Police Commissioner reportedly issued Roberto Malini a verbal warning on the following grounds: ‘Seeing the Roma are notorious criminals, I consider EveryOne Group part of a criminal organization and I invite it to cease its activity’. They were subjected to various episodes of intimidation and provocation, while the operations aimed at driving the Roma out of the city continued.
The foretold abuse took the form of intimidatory actions by the Italian authorities aimed at hindering activists’ work in defence of Roma people rights, which are being tragically trampled on throughout Italy at the present time.
What will the Commission do to ensure that human rights defenders are not harassed in EU Member States and to guarantee in all circumstances that they’re are able to carry out their human rights activities without fear of reprisals, threats and intimidation? What will it do to avoid a dangerous precedent that might jeopardize in future the legitimate commitment of human rights activists in Italy and in the EU? Will the Commission evaluate the severity of the police and judicial abuse being carried out against human rights defenders of the EveryOne Group?
EveryOne Group:
+39 393 4010237 :: +39 334 3449180 :: :: +39 331 3585406
www.everyonegroup.com :: info@everyonegroup.com
WHAT TO DO NOW?