Conditions of incarceration of Alfredo Cospito in Italy
23.1.2023
Priority question for written answer P-000191/2023/rev.1
to the Commission
Rule 138
Massimiliano Smeriglio (S&D)
The anarchist Alfredo Cospito, who is currently being held in Sassari prison, serving a sentence that has not yet been definitively confirmed, has been on hunger strike for three months
in protest at the Article 41-bis ‘hard prison’ regime to which he has been subjected since April 2022 and which was introduced by the Italian authorities in response to the mafia massacres of 1992.
In 2013, he was convicted of wounding Roberto Adinolfi, CEO of Ansaldo Nucleare. He also faces charges of having placed two bombs at a police academy in Fossano, without causing death or injury.
The decision of the Italian Ministry of Justice to subject him to the 41-bis regime six years after his last conviction has been prompted by the sending of ‘numerous messages [...] to fellow anarchists’.
His state of health has deteriorated considerably since the start of his hunger strike. He has lost 40 kg to date and has declared that he does not wish to undergo any forced medical treatment.
In view this:
- 1.Can the Commission say whether the matter has come to its attention?
- 2.Will it respond to the European Parliament’s repeated calls for action and include such situations in its next report on the rule of law, in a bid to ensure that Member States commit to promoting greater respect for human dignity within their penal systems?
Submitted: 23.1.2023