In the prison of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, prison officers were threatened with boiling oil and awls.
This is what emerged during a hearing of the maxi-trial for the violence that occurred on April 6, 2020, in which the officers were accused of mistreating the detainees.Witnesses Maurizio D'Orsi, then detained in Santa Maria Capua Vetere and currently incarcerated in Frosinone, and Raffaele Picone, a former soldier, confirmed the use of boiling oil, contradicting previous statements by other detainees, who had claimed that the oil had only been used for cooking.
The facts date back to April 5, when the detainees, after the discovery of a case of Covid among them, protested by barricading themselves in the sections. The protest led, the next day, to an extraordinary search by the prison police, which ended with violence.
According to the officers, boiling oil and sticks used to threaten them were seized. D'Orsi said that "the group of Neapolitan prisoners organized the protest and prepared the oil to throw on the guards, as well as having some awls."
Raffaele Picone also confirmed the presence of prisoners with boiling oil ready to be used against the officers. Picone then added, during cross-examination, that in the prison there was a flourishing trade in Subutex, a synthetic opiate, and that the protest of April 5 was also linked to this traffic, managed mainly by Neapolitan prisoners.
Subutex was also found in the body of Hakimi Lamine, an Algerian prisoner who was beaten on April 6, 2020 and later died in solitary confinement. For his death, 12 of the 105 people investigated in the maxi-trial, including prison officers, DAP officials and doctors from the ASL of Caserta, are under investigation.
Finally, the statements of another witness, Vincenzo Matrone, who had said he had been injured on April 6 and had suffered further abuse the following day, were denied.
During the hearing, a video was shown that contradicts his statements, in which Matrone appears with his beard intact and his arm, reportedly broken, used to greet other inmates. These facts were found to be incompatible with his version.
Article published on 24 October 2024 - 20:02
