The sister of Carlo Giuliani on the Bologna case

Elena Giuliani, sister of Carlo Giuliani, has spoken publicly about the case of Abderrahim Fakir, a 42-year-old man who died during his arrest by Italian police in Bologna. Speaking at the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the G8 protests in Genoa, she drew a direct comparison between her brother’s death and Fakir's, highlighting ongoing issues of state violence and repression. The incident involving Fakir occurred during a confrontation with law enforcement, which was captured on body cameras. The footage shows nearly 40 seconds of the encounter, though the full context remains under investigation. A post-mortem examination is pending, and the prosecution is still determining the exact circumstances of the death. Despite the lack of conclusive evidence, several groups have already condemned the actions of the officers and the state, calling for accountability. Elena Giuliani emphasized the dual purpose of the commemorative event. She recalled the memory of her brother, whose death in Genoa in 2001 remains unresolved, with no formal inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his killing. “It is because we want truth about what happened to Carlo,” she stated. “And it is because the themes of that time, wars, genocide in Palestine, climate collapse, are still very much alive today.” She further linked these contemporary struggles to immediate concerns such as employment, education, and continued police brutality. “We remember what happened yesterday in Bologna,” she added. “Another person was killed during a moment of tension between the forces of order.” This statement underscores the persistent pattern of state violence against individuals, whether in protest situations or during routine arrests. In comparing the past and present, Giuliani argued that there is a need to rethink how public order is managed, how dissent is handled, and how societal challenges are addressed. “Perhaps it is finally time to think about how we should manage public order, how we should handle disagreement, and how we should face the problems of our country and the world,” she said. “Maybe it is not correct as we were told back then to deal with them through violence, through war, through layoffs, through these repressive methods.” She called for a broader political discussion within Italy on how these matters have been handled, stressing the importance of preventing similar incidents from recurring in streets, prisons, and migrant detention centers along national borders. “What we ask is that institutions take responsibility,” she concluded. “That they think politically at the national level about how things have been managed, so that those events don’t happen again.” Her remarks reflect a long-standing demand for justice and transparency, rooted in both personal loss and collective activism. As the debate over policing and human rights continues, the voices of those affected remain central to shaping the discourse.