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Italy: Declaration of Anarchist comrades Silvia Ruggieri and Anna Beniamino on beginning a hunger strike in L’Aquila prison

From Act for Freedom!

29/5/2019
A few minutes ago the first hearing regarding the occupation of corso Giulio 45 took place in the Court of Turin. SILVIA was present from behind a screen via videoconferencing and announced the beginning of a HUNGER STRIKE for herself and for ANNA both of whom are imprisoned in L’Aquila. The objective of this struggle is to fight against the conditions they currently face – comparable to those of the 41bis prison regime – and for the closure of the section where they are being held. They need ALL OUR STRENGTH. In the meantime the rally in front of the court continues:  
Below is the text of the statement that was read out in the courtroom:  
“We have been locked up here in the female AS2 section of L’Aquila prison for almost two months. By now it is well-known in here and on the outside that these prison conditions are the softened product of would-be 41bis regime regulations.
We are certain that there is no possibility nor intention to request that the situation improve and not only because of objective and structural issues that relate to our “yellow section” (the old 41 bis section): this prison is reserved almost entirely for 41bis regime prisoners. We therefore believe it is both distasteful and impracticable in light of the even tougher conditions that exist for those only a few steps away from here, we cannot avoid thinking of the number of people who have been fighting for years stockpiling disciplinary reports and legal trials. The clumsy attempt of the DAP [Italian department of prison administration] to balance their books by establishing a mixed anarco-islamist prison section, which concretely led to an additional ban on meeting with other prisoners within the same section and to the further isolation [of one of the prisoners] which continues to this day.         
There are prison conditions – whether in regular or special sections – that are worse than the ones in L’Aquila. This isn’t a good reason for us not to oppose what they are imposing on us here. We will no longer eat this bread: on 29th May we will begin a hunger strike demanding to be transferred from this prison and the closure of this vile section.”
Silvia and Anna   
Updates to follow…
via: https://www.inventati.org/rete_evasioni/?p=3220
Translated by Act for freedom now!