What happened to me is an illustration of how far the Diaz police were prepared to go to dispense their kind of idealogy. In three attacks over the space of 15 minutes, my left hand was broken, eight ribs on my left side, my left lung was shredded, I suffered massive internal bleeding, a damaged spine, 16 broken teeth and was put into a coma. I was then left to die outside the main gate of Diaz Pertini despite the fact that Carabineri medical teams were present.

In the hours and days after the Diaz raid, a cover-up went into place by the Diaz police whilst they gave press conferences telling the international press that all the victims were dangerous terrorists. Dr Zucca calls it a ‘Code Blue’ wall of silence. The commanders at Diaz ordered civil servant police who attended Diaz later to write false reports and statements (which they later signed). My attempted murder was written out of the statements and to this day, only two policemen out of 340 who had to pass me to get into Diaz, ever said they saw me. No honest policeman had the courage to face up to the power of these commanders and attempt to tell the truth for fear of being threatened and killed by their superiors.

There are 26 anti-terrorist, DIGOS, flying Squad and state police commanders who are accused of masterminding and planning the bloody ‘Mexican butchers shop’ massacre at Diaz during the Genoa G8. A raid of such brutality, Amnesty called it the biggest suspension of democratic rights in a western country since World War II. A raid that was described by Genoa judges as the darkest page of history of the Italian police force.

For the human rights abuse at Diaz and Bolzaneto, Berlusconi and Fini handed out promotions whilst offering money and very expensive lawyers to get them off the serious charges being presented by Dr Zucca and the Genova prosecutors. It is rumoured but not proved yet that Gianfranco told the convicted Diaz police that they were ‘Covered to do anything they liked at Diaz’.

Francesco Gratteri, second in command of the anti-terrorist squad at Diaz, has recently been promoted to Deputy chief of police of Italy. Gilberto Caldarozzi, Gratteri’s deputy, has been promoted into the Justice ministry and Spartico Mortola, Commander of the DIGOS in Genoa at the time of G8, has been promoted to be chief of police in Turin. The only commander (7th mobile heavy riot unit) not to of been promoted was Vincenzo Canterini, the ‘Butcher of Diaz’.

Almost eleven years have passed as the Diaz case has travelled and navigated a legal system challenged and pulled apart by Berlusconi until it has finally arrived at the highest court of the land. This court is the Corti of Cassazione in Piazza Cavour. It is a very imposing building in Central Rome and is situated on the west side of the Tigris river. Cassazione does not use juries but has five Supreme court judges considering the case before it.

What they are considering is a high controversial police brutality case that has multiple victims and many police on trial for multiple serious charges. These are not rank and file policemen but commanders who now represent the top tier of power in the Italian police force. The very people, if acquitted, who will steer Italy through an economic and public order crisis of enormous size.

However, through the last eleven years, Berlusconi sought to move the legal goalposts of the Diaz case. First, he shortened the statute of limitations. This was primarily to get himself off charges related to the John Mills affair. However, this law also caused many of the Diaz charges to go beyond the statute of limitations despite being found guilty of all of them.

The three charges still on the statute book are false arrest, false statement and forgery. If found guilty of these three charges, the may 2010 verdict will stand and 15 of the Diaz police are jailed and a further eleven will be thrown out.

However, many italian commentators say that Cassazione will use a law passed in 2005 that suspends the first three years of a sentence. Its known as Berlusconi’s ‘Pardon’ law. This will mean that all Diaz police walk and most will keep their jobs.

If Cassazione exists for justice for the victim, where is the justice? Why does the court have to protect and let go the butchers of Diaz? Why does the court have to use laws from a criminal like Berlusconi? Is the court going to do anything about what Amnesty International said? will yet another serious injustice persist into italian history?