Update: in February 2013 che Court declared me free of all charges.
Update 2: in 2018 Gas Natural cancelled its plans for Trieste’s gulf.
THE ITALIAN JUDICIARY WANTS TO CONVICT ME FOR MY STAND AGAINST LNG TERMINALS IN TRIESTE
On Tuesday, January 29th, 2013 I am once again before the Judge for Preliminary Investigations. Why? For my firm stand against LNG terminals in Trieste’s gulf. The alleged crime? Defamation.
What is unique about this hearing is that my committal for trial follows a reaction to a public attack against myself. An attack broadcast publicly on TV (Antenna Tre Nord Est). The broadcast’s guests were many local politicians. All of whom support the LNG terminals.
At the same time, my complaints regarding the breach of the Seveso Directive and the lack of security measures (in particular about the domino effect), without which no LNG terminal can be approved, were labeled as “terroristic” and I was derided. Again, on live TV. At the same time, for its opposition to the LNG terminals, Slovenia was labeled “Austria-Hungarian fief”.
Considering the seriousness of the offenses, I lodged a complaint, but in vain.
Two years later, the local Court had “covered up” the complaint.
This is no news: the same Court covered up my criminal complaints regarding the falsification of the E.I.S. (Environmental Impact Study) for Gas Natural’s planned LNG terminal.
Furthermore, the same Court filed the proceeding regarding the breach of the EU’s Seveso Directive in Trieste’s industrial plants (despite how obvious it is that those plants’ safety reports are forged).
I reacted to this situation in an article on Greenaction Transnational‘s website. I criticized the local judiciary’s inertia in facing the many environmental disasters that affect the Free Territory of Trieste.
Because of this article, TV presenter Luigi Gandi sued me. The Judge for Preliminary Investigations (Luigi Dainotti, who had previously filed the case about Gas Natural’s falsified E.I.S.) committed me for trial in a record 8 months (Italian-style justice knows how to be really fast when it wants to. That is what the disputed article denounced).
And this despite the Prosecution itself dismissing ad groundless the accusations against me.
Furthermore, I am under trial for another alleged crime: defamation. My accuser? Spanish company Gas Natural. In this proceeding, the Prosecutor is once again someone who had already investigated Gas Natural, this time for falsifying an E.I.A. (Environmental Impact Assessment). Obviously, once more, these investigations ended without culprits.
While in Trieste the I am constantly before Court, last week, in Brussels my “terrorist” actions were appreciated by the European Parliament. Who is really defending legality?
Translated from blog “Environment and Legality” by Roberto Giurastante