GIULIANI AND GAGGIO v. ITALY JUDGMENT
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(d) M.P.'s second statement
39. On 11 September 2001 M.P., during questioning by the public
prosecutor, confirmed his statement of 20 July 2001, adding that he had
shouted to the demonstrators: “Leave or I'll kill you!”.
3. Other statements taken during the investigation
(a) Statements by other carabinieri
40. Sergeant-Major Amatori, who was in the other jeep on Piazza
Alimonda, said that he had noticed that the jeep in which M.P. was
travelling had its path blocked by a refuse container and was surrounded by
a large number of demonstrators, “certainly more than twenty”. The latter
were throwing objects at the jeep. In particular, he saw one demonstrator
throw a fire extinguisher at the rear window. He heard shots and saw Carlo
Giuliani fall down. The jeep then drove twice over Carlo Giuliani's body.
Once the jeep had succeeded in leaving Piazza Alimonda, he went over to it
and saw that the driver had got out and, visibly shaken, was asking for help.
The sergeant-major took over the driving seat and, noticing that M.P. had a
pistol in his hand, ordered him to replace the safety catch. He immediately
thought that this was the weapon that had just fired the shots, but said
nothing to M.P., who was injured and whose head was bleeding. The driver
told him that he had heard shots while he was manoeuvring the jeep. The
sergeant-major was not given any explanation as to the circumstances
surrounding the decision to shoot and did not ask any questions on the
subject.
41. Carabiniere Rando had gone over to the jeep on foot. He said that he
had seen that the pistol was drawn and asked M.P. if he had fired. M.P. said
that he had, without specifying whether he had fired into the air or in the
direction of a particular demonstrator. M.P. kept saying: “They wanted to
kill me, I don't want to die”.
42. On 11 September 2001 the public prosecutor heard evidence from
Captain Cappello, commander of the ECHO company (see paragraph 34
above). Captain Cappello stated that he had given M.P. permission to board
the jeep and had taken his tear-gas gun as M.P. was experiencing
difficulties. He stated subsequently (at the “trial of the twenty five”, hearing
of 20 September 2005) that M.P. had been physically unfit to continue on
account of his mental state and nervous tension. Captain Cappello had then
moved with his men – about fifty in number – towards the corner of Piazza
Alimonda and Via Caffa. He was requested by police officer Lauro to
proceed up Via Caffa in the direction of Via Tolemaide to assist the men
engaged there in trying to push back the demonstrators. He said he had been
puzzled by the request, given the number of men with him and their state of
tiredness, but had nevertheless stationed them on Via Caffa. The carabinieri