In Italia non esiste giustizia distributiva. Ne tiene le veci l’ingiustizia distribuita.
In Italy there is no such thing as distributive justice. In its place, there is distributive injustice.
Giuseppe Prezzolini
On 8 January 2014 took place a new hearing of the “historical” trial in which I first raised the exception of the lack of jurisdiction. “Historical” because this is the first trial during which a citizen of Trieste denied that a judge of the Italian Republic has the authority to judge him under Italian law within “zone A” of the Free Territory of Trieste.
It happened on 14 December 2011, at the opening hearing of the trial in which, for the first time, a judge was rejected for refusing, without reasons, to express himself on exception of the lack of jurisdiction with the mandatory judgment, issuing an ordinance instead.
On 13 March 2013, after I impugned the decision of the Trieste Court of Appeal that declared the judge competent in the trial before the Italian Court of Cassation, which rejected it as well – but failing to provide any reasons for it – the trial started all over again, with the same judge, even (Paolo Vascotto).
I raised once again the exception of the lack of jurisdiction, which was once again rejected without reasons and without the mandatory judgment (Art. 20 of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure).
Once again I rejected the judge. The trial stopped once more, a new appeal is brought before the Court of Cassation, it is of course rejected, the trial starts again – for the third time! – again in the Court of Trieste, on 25 September, but at least this time there is a new judge.
This happened because judge Paolo Vascotto, despite me rejecting him twice in this proceeding, was also put in charge of a trial in which I was the offended party. And once again I raised the exception on jurisdiction, but this time the judge accepted and evaluate it.
In particular, the ordering a legal translation of the original English version of the Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Free Territory of Trieste, signed in London on 5 October 1954.
An important decision, Judge Vascotto’s. A decision that opens the first cracks in the defensive wall of the local Italian establishment on question Trieste.
But after ordering the legal translation of the Memorandum, which so became the evidence of the current legal status of Trieste, judge Vascotto was transferred to another Court, and his proceedings were assigned to another judge.
This is how, on 25 September 2013, the trial from 2011 was about to start.
Yet, the new judge had the same old obstacle to overcome. Again, along with co-defendant Paolo G. Parovel, director of newspaper “La Voce di Trieste”, I lodged a new exception of the lack of jurisdiction, which was also preceded by a request to assign the case to another Court due to the environmental incompatibility resulting from the events of summer 2013.
Namely, the President of the Criminal Court, Filippo Gulotta, had publicly expressed himself against the citizens of Trieste who claim the rights established under the 1947 Peace Treaty and support the Free Trieste Movement. Since the President of the Court received the endorsement of the Associazione Nazionale Magistrati (Italian National Association of Magistrates), there were reasons to think that all Italian judged had a prejudice against the supporters of the Free Trieste Movement.
The trial was postponed once again, all documentation was sent to the competent Court of Cassation to decide on the new exception of environmental incompatibility.
But the Court of Cassation has not expressed itself yet: the hearing to be held on 8 January was postponed, this time to 9 April 2014: it’s been two years and the trial has not started yet.
Despite an intimidating pressing made of heavy fines whenever I rejected a judge or the Cassation expressed itself, I never gave up, demanding, under the law, that Italian judicial authorities declare what jurisdiction are they exercising over of the Free Territory of Trieste.
It’s been two years and neither the Cassation, or the Ministry of Justice, not one of the Courts involved was able to prove the existence of Italian sovereignty, for it was lost at the coming into force of the Treaty of Peace, on 15 September 1947. And never ever restored.
This is why this trial is important. It’s been the spark that allowed to trigger the revolution of legality that is taking place in Trieste.
It’s the demonstration of how one citizen, alone, by the force of his opinion and of the law, can oppose to the bodies of the super bureaucracy of an arrogant State. A small bit of grit in the well-furled machinery that distributes injustice in an imperfect system of justice. A small but of grit which, yet, also a bit of antimatter full of positive energy that can start a chain reaction.
Translated from blog “Ambiente e Legalità” – “Environment and Legality” by Roberto Giurastante