perugia shock

The Amanda Knox case, the Sara Scazzi trial (starting January 2012), etc.

In Italy the Scazzi and Kercher murders both show perfect examples of what passes as acceptable behavior by the courts that work for the Italian people. These murder cases have been widely reported and so I will not repeat the details of them here.

After carefully following these two murder trials it comes as no surprise for me to discover that the European Court of Human Rights found Italy the worst offender (by far) of all signer countries.
Statistics available for review by the world reveal the shear volume in number of human rights violations committed by Italian courts.

In the period from 1999-2006 Italy was found to have 1,264 confirmed cases of known and uncontested Human Rights violations… As a comparison…Spain’s courts in this same time period where found to have violated its own citizens Human Rights only 24 times.

Italy 1,264 vs. Spain 24…same time period.

The next worse country is Turkey; and Russia who you might expect to be a brutal violator of the Human Right proves itself to have been the subject of unfair media judgment and prejudice. Russia had only 197 violations in the same period.

Italy – 1,264   Russia – 197

Italy can not be proud. They can not blame these things on bad press, or unfair evaluation, or even on the crazy Americans. This comes from a European High Court to which Italy belongs and it shines the light of disgrace on the Italian justice system.

The two cases I mentioned, the Scazzi and Kercher cases show that the Italian people and the Italian government continue to ignore and therefore accept the abusive behavior of their justice system.
A justice system condemned by their peer countries. One that is proven to be careless with its own citizens.

Are they like lambs?  Are they afraid to demand improvement? Is it the Mafia who controls this system? Italy’s poor standings in the records appears to make them all possible assumptions. How does the Italian court answer its press and people when questioned about such serious violations ? Violations that are indisputable findings of fact. Italy’s distinction of worst country is based on a known number of violations. Why don’t the people demand better treatment as a basic right enjoyed by the rest of the  modern world?

Lets examine…

The government has a duty to be out front fighting to protect and assure that their citizens rights are safe. Yet when this badge of shame is forced to be worn by every Italian then what keeps them from investigating, why do they accept this dishonor? Do they have no rights? Certainly they can not be proud of this indisputable distinction. Worst violator of its own people.

Italian citizens are being betrayed by those who they elected to protect them. But I hear no call being made to demand investigation and change. No evidence that the most basic protections like assurance from human rights abuse in a court proceeding is even being questioned. They have been trained like lambs to follow and never question the master. Fear is the teacher.

Is the Italian citizen unaware of its standing in all of Europe and beyond? Probably…the press there is often controlled by threat and other action. An unfavorable story risks arrest and a trip to the edge of hell. A journey through the justice system judged the worst of all in protecting its own citizens basic human rights. In fact the country whose courts by far surpass others in numbers of violations of its citizens Human rights. Italy has 1,264 violations compared to neighboring Spain 24 violations. Why? Fear and abuse of power appears to be the answer. And it may be a justified fear.

It appears that Italians are held by fear to challenge and demand improvement. Real fear of the very system that causes them their dishonor and last place position. History has many cases that show how an uncontrolled abuse of power ends up first destroying the citizen rights to even free thought processes and a good indicator is that free speech is attacked and controlled. While we have come to expect this in dictatorships, Italy proves it can happen even in a Democracy.

In Italy we can see clear abusive processes where slander charges are used as a weapon. Like a knife they slice through a citizens right to even defend himself in court. Charges brought by officials yet paid for by the very citizens they seek to silence…no matter that the citizen needs to defend himself with the truth in court. Free speech is squashed by abuse of power and fear of even further prosecution and penalty by the officers and even the court itself. This is easily and repeatedly shown to be true in the referenced cases.

In the Kercher case the lead prosecutor has brought numerous dubious slander charges against those he wishes to silence. While at the very same time he ignores slanderous and even cruel behavior towards the defendants. For these he brings no charges. The Italian court allows him to proceed knowing full well that these disasters are an abuse of process. They go against a sworn duty. The law requires and makes plain the court officers duty to the defendant. But if that duty is ignored there is no remedy for the defendant.

The Italian court allows the same prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini of Perugia, to continue acting as an officer of the court when he has been tried and convicted for abuse of office. These types of things aren’t even tracked by the European Court of Human Rights. Imagine Italy’s number then.

The duty to protect evidence that can help a defendant is in this system…so it appears fair. But the trick comes when that duty is clearly and unmistakably violated. The court does nothing. In the Kercher case that duty is failed repeatedly …the prosecutor must be held responsible because he is in command of a case. He fails in his duty when he allows three or four computer hard drives to be “accidentally” destroyed. He fails in his duty when he claims that tapes of alleged abusive and illegal interrogation have not been recorded. Another oversight? Nothing nefarious he claims…it wont happen again…it was only an anomaly. We will do it from now on. All excuses. But that was already a requirement. Now this same officer of the court who has clearly failed in his duty… leaps at the chance to bring additional slander charges against a defendant who could prove innocence if the tapes were made available. This flies in the face of justice…it makes a mockery of the court. The duty by these officers is clear. And the failure to do that duty should provide for a relief by the defendant. But when the court ignores this failure of duty it (the court) becomes complicit in the violation.  Italy now shows why it holds last place position in protecting the human rights of its citizens.

Allowed to continue over time abusive uncontrolled power seems to become normal to its people. Its what allowed Hitler to hypnotize good people from acting against the barbarous behavior he was planning and in fact was allowed to carry out. This unchallenged abuse seems like that from history. The Italian citizens see the abuse but they are forced to look past it. They understand it to be normal…don’t talk to the police, when questioned keep silent…hire an attorney. Even if they are completely innocent and can prove beyond logic that innocence…the Italian citizen knows he must be wary. The court often ignores truth. The people know this. The Scazzi and Kercher cases show dramatically that if this court puts you in its sights it may not look for truth…it will and often does make up its own unsupported conclusions, devoid of fact or even logic. And then this court will keep you detained, locked away for years while they grind along at a snails pace. More than half of Italy’s Human Rights violations are because of this issue alone.

The Italian citizen must take every means possible to avoid injection into the Italian court system. Get as far away as possible they know. For once in that grasp they know logic and truth can disappear. They know the record of the European Court is correct and deserved. They understand this as a force to be feared. If you end up in Italian court you are now in the hands of the worst violators of basic human rights in the civilized world. Its interesting that in the Kercher murder investigation the two Italian roommates offered little. They kept silent. They immediately hired attorneys. The other roommate a foreigner reported the crime, tried to help in the investigation, felt no need of an attorney, ended up charged for the crime. Not even a footprint sample was requested from the roommates who had lawyers. This when footprints were and are still a major part of the prosecution case. Just the defendants foot prints were examined. And even though no conclusions can be made about these footprints the court never considers why its officer looked at one but failed to look at two others. All three being similar. Any of the three, no four roommates could have made these innocuous prints, but the prints of only one were examined.  There can never be justice and truth when a court depends on such weak officers who show repeated and continuous neglect of duty.

This court thumbs its nose at the distinction of worst label though. It will add additional charges against you for even pointing out this proven abusive label. Slander they will cry! That’s why the Italian press remains silent. They fear the process that can land them in jail just for trying to report the truth.

Mario Spezi, Italian author along with co-author Douglas Preston wrote the “Monster Of Florence”.
Spezi was jailed without charge by the Italian court. Preston tells a tale of brutal interrogation and threats, lies and made up accusations both by the police and officers of the court. He was so frightened by this that he immediately packed his bags and along with his family fled to America. It’s a good thing he escaped as he could have become another statistic on the European High Court list. What was the crime? Or alleged crime? Apparently writing a story about a true crime mass murder that had different conclusions than that of police and the court officer. That’s it! The book challenged crazy even bizarre assertions made by a court officer. He became embarrassed. Spezi went to jail. Preston fled the country in fear. Another number never recorded by the European High Court.

There has been no improvement since 1999. If anything these two cases…the Kercher Murder and the Scazzi Murder highlight that the European Court of Human Rights got it exactly right. Abusive uncontrolled power…The Kercher case also demonstrates abuse within the courts own system wherein; a lower court simply ignores an Italian Supreme Court ruling. No shout of objection by defense, no examination even how or why the Italian Supreme Court is ignored. I’m certain they have some obscure excuse that allows this lower court to ignore the intention made clear by the Supreme Court. Who cares? Not Italy.

But now that Supreme Court of Italy must carefully consider this Kercher case to assure its citizens that misconduct and abuse has not occurred. An impossible task given the wide spread abuse, cruelty, unexplained mistakes, and clear human rights violations. That time to consider is not yet here. But the day will come. And the world will watch. Also certainly the European Court of Human Rights will watch.

Perhaps the Supreme Court should intervene now and at least examine abuse of their decisions. It is after all they who have been ignored by their own lower courts. Why are they willing to be so openly mocked? Normally this could be brought to them. But as these Kercher and Scazzi cases clearly demonstrate, abuse of office travels through many levels of the court with no means for an accused to bring meaningful objection. No way to request review of certain improper behavior by a lower court. Now the High Court has no way to know it’s power and dignity is being usurped by a lower court action. No way to know that another Human Rights violation or two or three is occurring. They may never know. And that’s why it can happen. Then comes the dismal record. Attached to all of Italy.

A defendant must prove his innocence…it seems. All burden appears to be on the defendant. An impossible task when facts and real proof and even motive are unimportant to these courts. Proof of this is shown by the willingness to ignore their own Supreme Court. They appear bound by neither rule of law or even the high court. This is clear abuse of power. But no one brings this charge. They are controlled by fear. They all understand what can happen.

And in this environment of fear the court is free to place little or even no burden on court officers and accusers. Missing or destroyed evidence is common, proven sloppy and questionable experts offering mistake ridden testimony… unquestioned and accepted. Withholding evidence, leaked known falsehoods, are all methods used and accepted by Italian courts. The jurors are free to read any news, serious or gossip, they receive and understand leaked false information. And then they judge…usually always with one mind. It seems that they really need no evidence from the court…they have already decided the case long before the case is fully presented. They have decided by the opinion of a reporter. They have ignored fact or lack of fact, they consider the case as it happens, they are not sequestered. This Italian court provides no protection for a defendant against these abuses. This is why they are called worst. Without basic protections in place justice can never be assured. No system of checks and balances are available. The court presents only the illusion as it wishes. These referenced cases highlight the abuse…one only needs to read the court documents to enter the world of unfair and often wild speculation by the court itself. No fact presented, no reliable witness, nothing but wild imagination that builds on point after point without proof at any step…and not even the arrest and conviction of the prosecutor for abuse of office causes these courts to pause and reexamine what the now guilty prosecutor has presented. The court now understands completely that it employ’s and empowers an abusive convicted criminal and yet they refuse to find any fault in that fact. How can any defendant succeed in that hostile environment? How could anyone doubt The European Human Rights Court proclamation?

The defense litigators remain muted because they must be careful… they work inside this worst labeled system. They know first hand of the abuses. Charges have already been brought against some defenders and others have been threatened …no matter that it is in court and they are trying to fairly defend their client. This imbalance prevents true justice. It encourages vigilantism. It is an attack on Human Rights. It is just another number to add to an already shameful score.

These two cases…the Kercher murder and the Scazzi murder are only two examples that when fully reviewed will prove the abuse of basic human rights and will shine a light on Italy so that the rest of the world can see and understand what an impartial European Court of Review already knows. I would hope even more that it enables the Italian people to stand up and demand their right to be treated fairly by their own court system. That they may some day be listed in the ranking near Spain as a country that respects the most basic of rights of its own people. Hopefully the government will look up from other work and make the necessary changes to bring Italy’s treatment of its citizens, by the court, into the twenty-first century…far away from  that 1999 thru 2006 badge of dishonor they must wear now.

They are good people…they should be treated better and protected more from a system long departed from its original intention. The truth is in the numbers. Italy is now placed in the light of the world and the world will judge Italy’s effort to clean up and improve its court so that its citizens are protected from abuse and its humanity is proven to the world. Its all in the numbers.

Until then I would advise caution in Italy…

Give no answers to anyone about anything. If you see something… run…don’t offer help. Run to an attorney or run from the country. They look at you and judge you differently there. Your chances of having your basic Human Rights violated are greatest in this country. Its proven by the numbers. The government must shoulder the blame for ignoring it for so long.

Now Italy’s court system has put itself on trial as the whole world watches closely each move it makes in both the Scazzi and Kercher Murder trials. The European Court of Human Rights has already made its decision. The question now is what will Italy do to better protect its citizens rights?

Randy N