my apologies for cross posting and any offensive comments about what a
terrible thing this is etc etc can be posted straight back to my trash.
matt
>FREEDOM FOR TONI NEGRI
>PUTTING AN END TO THE "YEARS OF LEAD" IN ITALY
>
> Toni Negri has been in prison in Rome since July 1, 1997. He has
>been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison, not counting another
>conviction that is now in the appeal process. After residing in
>France in exile since 1983, he returned to Italy voluntarily in the
>hope that his action would contribute to the resolution of the problem
>of the exiles and prisoners who are wanted or convicted for the
>political activities of the 1970s in Italy, the so-called "years of
>lead." About 180 people are still in Italian prison under these
>charges and about 150 are in exile, the majority of them in France.
> Toni Negri was a professor at the University of Padua and his
>writings are well-known throughout the world. He was arrested on
>April 7, 1979 and accused of "armed insurrection against the powers of
>the State." To support this accusation, his accusers presented him as
>the secret leader of the Red Brigades, the terrorist group that had
>kidnapped and assassinated Aldo Moro, President of the Christian
>Democratic Party. Negri has always denied this absurd accusation and
>he was later formally acquitted of this charge. Charges against him
>were modified numerous times. After four and a half years of
>preventive detention, he was elected to parliament as a representative
>of the Radical Party and was consequently released from prison. When
>the Chamber of Deputies subsequently voted by a narrow margin to strip
>him of his parliamentary immunity and send him back to prison, he fled
>to France. The court procedures against him continued in his absence
>and led to convictions under several charges and in several different
>trials. At the time, Amnesty International denounced the serious legal
>irregularities of Negri's trial and those of his colleagues at the
>University of Padua. During his exile, Toni Negri worked in France as
>a teacher at the University of Paris VIII, at the Coll
>ge
>International de Philosophie, and as a social science researcher. He
>published numerous books during this period.
> Due to his notoriety Negri has become the emblematic figure of
>the Italian radical Left of the 1970s. Beginning in the Autumn of
>1969 there began in Italy a period of intense social conflicts that
>were exacerbated by the very ambiguous role of certain State agencies
>in what was called a "strategy of tension," in other words, the
>manipulation of the neo-fascist groups responsible for a deadly
>bombing campaign at such sites as Piazza Fontana and the Bologna train
>station. The radicalization of the Italian extra-parliamentary Left
>and the social movements led a large number of activists toward the
>path of wide-spread political violence and a few of them toward armed
>struggle. Between 1976 and 1980, tens of thousands of activists were
>pursued by the police and more than five thousand arrested. Hundreds
>of long-term sentences were handed out on the basis of emergency laws
>that are still in effect, including principally the so-called law of
>the "repentants." This law makes the testimony of accused persons who
>have "repented" the sufficient basis for the conviction of others, and
>allows for them to be set free in return for having turned State's
>evidence. Another emergency measure allows for preventive detention
>to extend retroactively up to twelve years. This measure is radically
>incompatible with the principles of the rule of law and the basic
>rules of penal procedure, as they are defined by articles 5 and 6 of
>the European Convention of Human Rights and protected by the European
>Court of Human Rights. One can assume that the highly contestable
>nature of such legislation is what has led Italy's democratic
>neighbors such as France and Great Britain to have serious doubts
>about these cases and not to act on the majority of the more than
>seventy requests for extradition presented by Italian authorities,
>regardless of the political party in power. For the same reason,
>undoubtedly, the over five hundred refugees who have been accepted in
>France over these years have never been disturbed or harassed. These
>refugees have integrated into French society, finding work and
>building families. Now they do not want to risk their futures and the
>lives they have constructed in order to resolve twenty-five-year old
>sentences that were handed down in such dubious emergency conditions.
> The object of this appeal should not be interpreted in any way to
>condone the real or supposed activities of those pursued and convicted
>for their activities during the "years of lead." The refugees have
>declared unambiguously that the "war" is over. "That period has
>ended." A democracy worthy of that name must be able to turn the
>page. Today these nearly four hundred exiles and prisoners are
>excluded from Italian society. A problem of this order cannot be
>resolved on a case by case basis, but must be addressed with a general
>solution.
> A bill for an "indulto" (a reduction of sentences by a vote of
>parliament) was introduced nine years ago but has not yet come up for
>a vote. Such a bill would have positive effects, but it would not
>resolve the refugees' problems. The only solution for Toni Negri and
>his unfortunate companions would be an amnesty. The only amnesty that
>has been passed in Italy was in 1946, which Togliatti supported with
>regard to the fascists. On the other hand, for the activities linked
>to France's war in Algeria and concerning actions of a gravity more or
>less equivalent to those committed in the 1970s in Italy, France
>granted an amnesty to both the deserting soldiers and the members of
>the OAS.
> Since we support the principles of the rule of law and the re-
>establishment of human rights everywhere for everyone, as Italy
>prepares for integration into the new Europe, we ask urgently that the
>Italian members of parliament respond favorably to this appeal for
>clemency by passing an amnesty law as soon as possible. We also ask
>the representatives of the European Union to take appropriate measures
>to insure the swift release of Toni Negri. If he symbolized one era,
>then his release will symbolize another, calmer one. Finally, by
>repealing the series of exceptional measures that are incompatible
>with the European Convention of Human Rights, Italy would live up to
>its central role in the new Europe.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>PETITION
> Having understood the circumstances, we support the appeal in
>favor of the release of Toni Negri in order to put an end to the
>"years of lead" in Italy.
> Toni Negri was in France for fourteen years. He sought refuge
>there in 1983 after serving four and a half years of preventive
>detention in Italy. He has now returned voluntarily to Italy where he
>has been sentenced to prison for eminently political reasons on the
>basis of an arsenal of emergency measures (such as convictions based
>solely on the testimony of "repentants" and extended preventive
>detention) that are incompatible with the European Convention of Human
>Rights.
> He has been in prison since July 1, 1997 and his release (which
>will likely be only a work release) has still not come about.
> Four hundred people are excluded from Italian society on the
>basis of political activity conducted twenty years ago. The more than
>150 refugees in France do not want to destroy the lives they have
>constructed in order to address these sentences based on emergency
>measures. European authorities on the Right and the Left have not
>extradited the refugees back to Italy, and they have thus expressed
>sotto voce their disdain for the Italian procedures.
> The wide-spread political violence of the Italian social
>struggles, which has been conflated under the label of Italian
>"terrorism," is something that ended long ago. Can a democracy apply
>to those accused of political crimes (twenty years after the fact)
>measures more severe than those used in common criminal cases?
> The release of Toni Negri must finally lead toward an amnesty
>that has been too long in coming. Only the abrogation of the
>emergency measures and the parliamentary passage of an amnesty bill
>can finally put an end to the "years of lead." As long as these
>conditions are not met, we urge the countries of the European Union to
>guarantee the residency of the Italian exiles. We ask finally that
>the members of parliament of the other countries of the Union and
>those of the Strasbourg Assembly do all they can to resolve these
>problems.
>
>Please send signatures to Yann Moulier Boutang by fax or e-mail.
>fax: (011.331) 45.41.53.91
>email: [log in to unmask]
>
>Name Function or Title Address and telephone, fax, or email
>
>
>
>
>Among those who have already signed this petition:
>E. Balibar (philosopher), J.L. Benhamias (General Secretary of the
>Green Party in France), O. Btourn (editor at Editions Fayard), P.
>Boulez (musician), Ch. Bourgois (editor), P.A. Boutang (film producer),
>R. de Ceccatty (writer), G. Chatelet (mathematician), M. Chemillier-
>Gendreau (jurist), D. Cohn-Bendit (writer), R. Debray (writer), J.
>Derrida (philosopher), C. Dolto-Toltitch (doctor), V. Forrester
>(writer), S. Gisselbrecht (Inserm), G. Kejman (lawyer), A. Lipietz
>(economist), B. Marger (Cit de la Musique), J.F. Masson (doctor), F.
>Matta (artist), G. Perault (philosopher), M. Plon (psychoanalyst), A.
>Querrien (urbanist), J. Ranciere (philosopher), E. Roudinesco (writer),
>S. Silberman (film producer), Ph. Sollers (writer), G. Soulier
>(jurist), and I. Stengers (philosopher).
>
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