72
GIULIANI AND GAGGIO v. ITALY JUDGMENT
officers could be held liable for having left a lethal weapon in the hands of a
carabiniere who was considered unfit to remain on duty.
274. If the Government were correct in their assertion that the
investigation could not be extended to persons other than those suspected of
having committed the offence, it was the domestic law that was
incompatible with Article 2 of the Convention. Furthermore, the public
prosecutor, in requesting that the proceedings be discontinued, had referred
to problems (without specifying what they might be). Since this finding had
not prompted an investigation into the causes of the problems and who was
responsible for them, the Convention had also been breached on account of
the prosecuting authorities' choice to conduct an incomplete investigation.
275. The applicants deplored the fact that, far from being punished,
M.P.'s superior officers (officers Leso, Truglio, Cappello and Mirante) had
all obtained promotion. Furthermore, some police officers suspected of
unlawful arrest and violence towards demonstrators had likewise been
promoted. However, in a judgment of 18 May 2010 the Genoa Court of
Appeal had sentenced some of these senior officers to prison terms ranging
from three years and eight months to five years for offences committed at
Diaz school during the G8 (twenty-five of the twenty-seven accused had
been convicted and had received custodial sentences totalling eighty-five
years). The day after that judgment was delivered, the Under-Secretary of
the Interior had stated that none of the senior officers convicted would be
dismissed and that they continued to enjoy the Minister's confidence.
(ii) The Government
276. Referring to their observations concerning the circumstances in
which an investigation could be considered to be defective (see
paragraph 269 above), the Government alleged that, since no liability arose
in connection with the conduct of the public-order operations, the fact that it
had not been the subject of investigation was without consequence. The
Chamber itself had concluded that the planning and organisation of the G8
in Genoa had been compatible with the obligation to protect life under
Article 2. Accordingly, there was no reason to investigate the persons
responsible for the planning.
277. The Chamber had criticised the investigation for not elucidating the
reasons why M.P. had not been taken straight to hospital, had been left in
possession of a loaded pistol and had been placed in a jeep that was cut off
and had no protection. The Government observed that the domestic
investigation had been unable to establish with certainty whether the jeeps
had followed the detachment of carabinieri on the drivers' own initiative or
because they were ordered to do so. In any event, this had been the only
reasonable course of action given that the jeeps were required to travel
together and under cover of the detachment. M.P. had been placed in the
jeep because of a sudden event (his personal state) and the vehicle had
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