Judges in the Italian city of Turin have declared a far-left extremist “social centre” a criminal association after the centre has been a hub of far-left extremist activity for years.
The Court of Review of Turin has declared the Askatasuna social centre a criminal association following an appeal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office which closed an investigation into members of the centre last month.
The prosecutor had initially sought the arrest of seven people linked to the social centre and over various crimes but the request to arrest the alleged far-left extremists was not initially granted, leading to the request for review, the newspaper Il Giornale reports.
Despite its innocent-sounding name, the Askatasuna social centre is said to be one of the largest and most influential in Italy and has been under investigation by the General Investigations and Special Operations Division (DIGOS) since 2019.
Prosecutors state that extremists from the centre have been not only involved with the actions against the construction of the Turin–Lyon high-speed railway, also known as the No TAV movement, but have also attempted to infiltrate environmental groups.
Far-left activists from Turin’s social centre have also been active in aiding illegal immigrants in the city and both extremists and migrants occupied the former Olympic Village built for the 2006 Winter Olympics and turned the area into a no-go zone, according to a 2018 report.
Members of the social centre are also alleged to have contacted former members of the far-left terrorist Red Brigades who carried out killings and kidnappings throughout the 1970s and 80s, including the murder of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.
Many of the Red Brigades members fled the country to countries like France following the end of the period of violence known as the “Years of Lead” but the Italian government has made efforts to extradite some former members of the group.
Last month a French appeals court rejected an Italian request to extradite ten members of far-left groups, including the Red Brigades, as the extremists, all of which are over 60, argued they would end up dying in prison.