Resolution of Corte D’Assise D’Appello (Appeals Court) of Milan, 19 December 2016, N.8/16, Criminal case against XX1, XX2, XX3, XX4, XX5, XX6
- 2016
- Italy
Topics
Membership in a terrorist organisation Terrorism propagandaLegal bases
Code of Criminal Procedure, ItalyCourts
Court of Appeal (Corte D'Assise D'Appello), Milan, ItalyLaws
Freedom of Expression Right to respect for private and family lifeFacts
The uniqueness of this procedure lies in this: on the one hand, thanks to some investigative intuitions, it has been possible to directly intercept the communications of some members of the IS. responsible for the sorting of foreign fighters; on the other hand, thanks to the interception of the communications of the defendants who had moved to Syria with their relatives who had remained in Italy, numerous information on the functioning of the Islamic State was provided from within and spontaneously. Furthermore, the personal events of the defendants – detailed in detail by the investigators, also in relation to the months preceding the start of the investigations – have fully revealed all the mechanisms referred to in I.S. it has been used to expand and attract new affiliates. Ms. XX5 is the first to convert to the Islam of the XX family, followed by her sister Ms. XX6 and finally by her parents. After the conversion, the sisters XX embark on a path of profound "radicalisation", in which the imputed Ms. XX1, the "teacher" of Syrian origins who in 2012 left Italy to move to Saudi Arabia plays a decisive role. Using mainly Skype, Ms. XX1 had created fundamentalist study groups and interpretations of the Koran, which could only be accessed on the "invitation" of some trusted student. The lessons, which were also held several times a week, consisted in "a continuous exaltation of the Islamic State and its terrorist action", and the teacher repeatedly, invited their pupils to abandon the land of the "unbelievers" and to carry out the jihad. In this context Ms. XX5 matures the desire to reach the territories of the Caliphate, and to this end she sets out in search of a man to marry willing to perform the "egira" with her. The opportunity arises in April 2014, when an acquaintance offers to present her own relative of Albanian nationality who, in turn, was "looking for a wife and then going to jihad". Thus, in September 2014 Mr. XX3 arrives in Inzago accompanied by his mother Ms. XX2, a strongly radicalized Muslim, who "wanted at all costs to reach the territory of the Islamic State", and who had made the son overcome the latest perplexities, "last resistance". In just a few days Aldo and Ms. XX5 know each other, get married according to the Islamic rite, and organize the trip to Syria. On September 21, 2014 Ms. XX2 and the newlyweds take a direct flight to Istanbul from Rome-Fiumicino airport and from there another one to Gaziantep, a Turkish town on the border with Syria. As soon as they arrive in Turkey, they contact a telephone user in use by some subjects in charge of managing the flow of foreign fighters from all over the world and facilitating their entry into the Islamic State. From the wiretaps arranged during the investigations it emerged that these subjects were well integrated into a "large, dense, well-organized terrorist network". After receiving the necessary instructions, Maria Giulia Sergio, Mr. XX3 and Ms. XX2 are able to enter Syria, where Ms. XX4 (sister of Mr. XX3) is waiting for them with her two children. Once in the territories of the Islamic State, Mr. XX3 is sent to Iraq for a few weeks, where he undergoes the special training planned to become "officially a true mujahed", which actually happens on his return to Syria. Inside the Caliphate, Mr. XX3 plays "a real profession": besides being a fighter, he is in charge of "guaranteeing the proper respect of Sharia, the law of Allah, if necessary, using force to repress any non-compliance" (Ms. XX5 herself, in conversations with her family, calls him "a policeman"). Women, on the other hand, are dedicated to the deepening of the Islamic ideology, to the study of the Koran, and Ms. XX5 herself, more prepared than the others, begins to give lessons [12]. From Syria Ms. XX5 contacts her family on Skype almost daily. From the beginning he began to urge his parents and his sister Ms. XX6 to join her in the Caliphate, reminding them of the obligatory obligation for every Muslim, of the Hegira, and ensuring that the organization of the trip would have thought of her with the help of others mujhaeddin ("you know that in one day only we organize everything"). Over the course of the months this "work of conviction" becomes more insistent and aggressive, and in the end, after several changes, the XX spouses are persuaded by the pressures of their daughters and decide to leave for the Caliphate. Thus, at the end of March, XX initiated the dismissal procedures and obtained the 'liquidation' he was entitled to, which was actually credited to him in May 2015. From this moment on XX begin to pick up all the money received a little at a time, buy the suitcases to leave and the mother requests the issuing of the passport. In the meantime, they realized that their conversations could be intercepted by the police, to discuss the practical aspects of the trip with Ms. XX5 take some precautions. In light of the investigative findings, in June 2015, the prison warrant orders were issued.
Legal grounds
Article 270bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure "Associations for the purposes of terrorism, including international or subversion of the democratic order". Art. 270quater of the Code of Criminal Procedure "Enlistment for the purposes of terrorism, including international terrorism".
Findings
The defendants XX1, XX2, XX3, XX4, XX5, they were called to respond to the delinquency of participation in association with terrorism purposes as per Art. 270bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure. All the same have been declared fugitives by decree deo the judge for preliminary investigations and they have remained absent for the whole trial. The accused XX has instead been called to answer for the crime referred to in Art. 270quater of the Code of Criminal Procedure because – in competition with his wife XX and his daughter Ms. XX6, through stable contacts with his daughter Ms. XX5 – he organized the trip aimed at the achievement of Syria by them and their daughter to join the Islamic State terrorist organization. At the outcome of the investigation, the criminal liability of all the defendants for all the crimes attributed to them was affirmed.