The UK of course is not the only state that runs pantomimes called "The Judicial System". Most states run such theaters, often with the actors dressed up in funny clothes and fancy wigs, with the leading comedian seated on the highest chair on stage. All this pomp and ceremony is meant to both impress and and instill submission, on the poor members of the public who are forced to take part, usually to their detriment.
This particular pathetic pantomime takes place in Italy as part of the state's "Operation Panico". The usual bumbling actors doing a poor job of trying to appear learned and dignified, with a script that is a very poor half written farce. Pathetic but not funny at all, these pantomimes usually end up with the suffering of a member or group of members of the public, in a clear attempt to repress, silence and/or intimidate.
May 2, 2019
Today started with the first tricky one: the experts’ transcripts of the monitoring, not even complete, (some of those requested by the PM were missing, because they’d got it wrong when they photocopied them) submitted last week, in particular the transcript that the prosecutors consider more ‘incriminating’ for Paska. Instead of ‘I put a big bomb in casapound’s mouth’, the expert heard and wrote: ‘he came to put a big bomb, etc.’ The prosecution must have resented this because they insisted that the expert listen to the audio again and use a recording studio to ‘clean’ the sound. After this pressure the expert finally rewrote the interception with the prosecution’s interpretation but only submitted it yesterday at 5pm so the defence didn’t get a copy until this morning.
The defence therefore demanded a postponement because it was impossible to carry out a counter-examination on the expert’s report. There and then the judge said something like ‘there isn’t time’, without formally dealing with the defence’s request, and had the hearing begin.
Monti, the expert, gave his statement; on the judge’s request the famous audio was played. You couldn’t hear much, juxtaposed indistinguishable voices, in both the original audio and even more so the ‘clean’ one. It was played several times. At this point Monti described the passages he had presented earlier, and as he came to his conclusion, namely what was supposed to be corrected because he actually heard ‘I put a big bomb’, sarcastic applause and voices arose from the public, at which point the judge evacuated the comrades from the court; the comrades were then stopped by Digos in the smoking area while antiriot cops were allowed in court and waited nearby.
In his lawyer’s absence Paska decided to defend himself, he spoke to declare that he recognized the recorded voice as his own, but the words attributed to him had never been pronounced.
Then new experts were appointed for the interceptions, but they expressed doubts about being able to finish the job during the Easter festivities.
The hearing went on with a discussion about Paska’s mother’s car, which Digos officers claim they saw parked outside Panico on 2nd and 3rd January, while his telephone was elsewhere. The defence demanded that the discussion be postponed to a date when Paska’s lawyers would be present; the judge refused and continued the hearing. Paska also had to defend himself in this case, and declared that he had been celebrating elsewhere since 31st, with his telephone on him, and that he had the car with him, so the Digos must have been mistaken.
Another Digos officer gave a statement about a control carried out on Ghespe in the street on 30/12; this was to counterattack the defence aspect in Ghespe’s medical record and the X-rays of his fractured foot at the end of December 2017. The Digos cop obviously said that Ghespe was standing during the control, he wasn’t wearing a plastercast and he [the Digos cop] didn’t notice any abnormality in Ghespe’s gait.
However, all this aside, the most annoying news is that, considering the experts’ troubles with the interceptions (and the prosecutors’ repeated interference in their work, it seems), the schedule of the hearing was cancelled, no way ‘the trial will definitely end on 9th May’. Everything was postponed to JULY, and this is the new schedule:
25/6 – deadline for the submission of environmental interceptions
15/7 – hearing on the interceptions
16/7 – prosecutors’ final speeches plus civil parties
17 and 18/7 – defence’s last speeches
22/7 – sentencing.
Given the schedule, Paska asked the judge to inform the prison administration that he would request a transfer so as to be near the court, considering the frequency of the hearings. He looked in great shape today too!
The public was allowed in again after photographs were taken of their documents, then Paska got warm greetings as he was taken away at the end of the hearing.
