In June 2020, house raids took place in the Bencivenga Occupato squat in Rome and other places, and seven anarchist comrades were arrested in Italy, Spain and France as part of an operation called “Bialystok”[1]. They were accused of participating in an associazione sovversiva (criminal association) and of various minor offenses related to initiatives in solidarity with comrades accused in the Panico operation. Two of them were accused of carrying out an explosive attack on a police station in 2017 and an arson attack on cars linked to ENI (an Italian multinational oil and gas company) in 2019, respectively.
After a trial in 2022, some comrades were acquitted and some were sentenced to prison, with sentences ranging from 45 days to one year[2].
Techniques used
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Forensics | ||
| Gait recognition | The main evidence against the comrade accused of an explosive attack on a police station was a comparison of his gait and the color of his coat with the corresponding characteristics of a person recorded by the surveillance cameras of the police station[3]. | |
| International cooperation | In June 2020, comrades were arrested in Spain and France, thanks to cooperation between Italian, Spanish and French intelligence and police forces[1]. During the investigation Italian cops tried to target a person living in Germany[4]. They sent several requests to German police to extradite the person or have their house searched but the requests were rejected. | |