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Fascist Genoa court orders three Americans and 17 others released from prison

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Genoa court orders three Americans and 17 others released from prison in summit rioting cases PIERO VALSECCHI, Associated Press Writer    Tuesday, August 14, 2001 Breaking News Sections   (08-14) 16:06 PDT MILAN, Italy (AP) — A court ordered the release from prison Tuesday of three Americans and 17 Europeans arrested in connection with violence at last month’s Group of Eight summit in Italy. Susanna Thomas, 21, from Warren, N.J.; Andre Patrick Stoffel, born in 1978 and from Illinois; and Brian Sating, born in 1965, from Ohio still face charges carrying a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison. The hometowns and exact ages of the two American men were not immediately available. In her first comments after leaving jail, Thomas said all political prisoners should be released. "There are lots of political prisoners still in jail and they all need help and support and prayers and solidarity," she told The Associated Press in an interview at Milan’s airport. A police car carried Thomas and another detainee, a Slovak woman, from Voghera prison near Genoa to Linate airport in Milan, were they arrived shortly before midnight and were taken to the police office. A prison official who refused to give his name told reporters that Thomas would catch the first available flight out of Italy. Linate has no direct U.S. flights, but does have service to some European capitals. Thomas said she was planning to fly out Wednesday and would visit friends in Europe for a few days before returning to Warren to see her parents. She was wearing a hand-made t-shirt that read "Freedom for all political prisoners" written in German. The Genoa court on Tuesday also ordered the release of 15 Austrians, a Slovak and a Swede. Most were part of an Austrian theater group who had been detained since July 22, lawyers said. "We are extremely happy to know that our daughter will be released," Susanna’s father, Rick Thomas, in a telephone interview earlier in the day. Thomas’ lawyer, Gilberto Pagani, said Italian authorities had issued an expulsion order for all 20. Austrian Embassy officials said that the 15 Austrians would be deported to the border. Late Tuesday, the ANSA news agency said six Austrian men had left their prison in Alessandria, 35 miles north of Genoa. Thomas’ lawyers submitted a new petition for her release Tuesday after an initial one was rejected on technical grounds. The judges Monday refused to consider the case of five other people, in addition to Thomas — three Austrians, one Slovak and one Australian. But one of the defense lawyers, Andrea Sandra, said Tuesday that the release of the 20 implied that the other five, too, would be ordered freed. He said the five would probably be questioned on Friday, and might be freed by the end of the week. Thomas was arrested with the Austrian Publix Theater, a street theater group that deals with political themes, as the group was leaving Genoa in a caravan of vehicles. Police alleged that the Publix Theater group had conspired with the violent anarchists known as Black Bloc — who were considered mainly responsible for the riots — before and during the July 20-22 summit. Police seized jackknives, black clothes, cell phones and flagpoles in their vehicles. The actors maintain that the items were used in their street performances. Thomas’ parents have said their daughter, a member of the pacifist Christian Quakers, would never take part in violent protests and was in Genoa as part of her research on nonviolent social activism. Last week, Austrian President Thomas Klestil wrote his Italian counterpart, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, urging the "speedy release" of Austrians still in custody. Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo had also campaigned for the theater group’s release.

Filed under: Student activism

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