On a splendid May morning I took action, and during those few hours I enjoyed life to the fullest. For once I left fear and self-justification behind, and I ventured toward the unknown. . . .
I want to be very clear: the Olga Cell of the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front is only me and Nicola. No one else participated, collaborated, or planned this action, and no one knew about our project. . . .
But I ask myself: what is terrorism? A shot fired, an intense pain, an open wound? Or the constant unremitting threat of a slow death that devours from within—the perpetual terror, incessant, that one of his nuclear power plants will at any moment vomit up death and desolation? . . .
I am happy to be who I am: a free man, even though “temporarily” in chains. . . .
The only ones responsible for what happened in Genoa on May 7, 2012 are me and Alfredo. No one else, including friends and comrades, was aware of what we were planning and then carried out. . . .
After the Fukushima disaster, when Alfredo asked me to help him carry out an action against the nuclear engineer Adinolfi, I accepted without hesitation. . . .
Now that the experience of the Olga Cell has reached its end, the only thing I can affirm is that I have found new reasons to nourish my hatred and new motivation to desire the destruction of the existent, made up of authority, exploitation, and the carnage being done to nature. . . .
On October 30, anarchist comrades Alfredo Cospito and Nicola Gai arrived at court in Genoa from the high security wing of Ferrara prison to face the first trial day in the framework of an abbreviated proceeding for shooting nuclear power boss Roberto Adinolfi in the leg on May 7, 2012.
More than two hundred anarchists gathered in front of the courthouse to show solidarity with Cospito and Gai, while various security measures were put in place outside as well as inside the courtroom, where several comrades were also present.
Upon entering the courtroom, Alfredo and Nicola were not locked up in the usual defendants’ cage but instead seated in front of the judge’s bench, where they showed not an ounce of respect for that filthy authority.
Comrade Alfredo Cospito began to read a communiqué in which he assumed political responsibility for the shooting of Adinolfi, but he was repeatedly interrupted by the judge. The comrades attending the trial in solidarity began to hurl insults like “fascist!” at her in an attempt to get her to allow Alfredo to read.
After a signal from the modern inquisitor, the police pounced on Cospito and Gai to eject them from the courtroom. Alfredo threw down his text, and Nicola indicated with gestures that he would leave his communiqué on the desk. Both were removed by a strong police contingent while raising their fists in the midst of applause and cries of solidarity from their comrades, such as “The passion for freedom is stronger than your authority!”
The communiqués disclosed that the pistol used for the shooting was bought on the black market, detailed the reconnaissance and countersurveillance measures taken before arriving at Adinolfi’s house, and explained how the responsibility claim was sent. The comrades also revealed that, just after being shot, the swine Adinolfi shouted: “Bastards! I know who sent you…”
The vile prosecutors Nicola Piacente and Silvio Franz requested a 12-year prison sentence for Alfredo and 10 years for Nicola. Additionally, the state advocate requested 1 million euros in compensation for non-pecuniary damage sustained by the government and the interior ministry.
The sentences will be announced on November 12, 2013 for both comrades.
From a distance, separated by mountains and kilometers of sea, we can see the smiles on Cospito and Gai’s faces when confronted by the pack of inquisitors: judges, reporters, prosecutors. They are like the words written in the same black ink, the continuity shared by those comrades who have clashed with domination at different times and places, the voices that persist despite the crude pretensions of authority—the same voices heard in disparate parts of the world, disregarding repressive threats.
Dignified rebellion and the spirit of revolt entered the courtroom today and left unbent, with raised fists. The irrevocable call is to not abandon the comrades, to not leave them alone to face the trial and vengeance launched by the State, which is preparing the sentences and multiplying the investigations that hang over Cospito, Gai, and their milieu.
Internationalist solidarity with Alfredo Cospito and Nicola Gai!
Solidarity with imprisoned revolutionaries who remain dignified inside the world’s prisons!
From Publicación Refractario, translated by This Is Our Job.
Alfredo’s and Nicola’s court statements in English are here, translated by ActForFreedomNow comrades.
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