Mario Placanico, the 20-year-old Carabiniere who killed 23year-old protester Carlo Giuliani during Friday's street riots on the margins of the G8 summit in Genoa, will almost certainly plead "legitimate defence" when homicide charges are brought against him.
For the time being, the young policeman has received judicial notification that he is under investigation for homicide and it is expected that formal charges will shortly be filed. A Genoa state prosecutor, Mr Francesco Meloni, one of a special pool of magistrates on standby for problems at the G8, said on Saturday:
"The inquiry will probably be a quick one. The (TV) footage that we've seen is all too clear. There was a very serious assault and the Carabinieri were working in a situation of extreme danger. The charge is one of voluntary homicide but there will be plenty of scope to assess the question of legitimate defence."
A large body of photographic and TV evidence made available over the weekend would appear to have clarified the circumstances of Carlo Giuliani's death. He was one of a number of protesters who surrounded a Carabiniere Land Rover that had become isolated from the other security forces during rioting near the Brignole train station at about 5.30 p.m. on Friday.
The police Land Rover got stuck when it jammed against an upturned rubbish bin that the rioters had used by way of a barricade. At that point, 30 or more protesters surrounded the vehicle, attacking it with iron bars and poles. The Land Rover driver, Filippo Calappio, was hit in the head by a heavy object, as evidenced by blood stains down the back of the driver's seat. Furthermore, all the windows of the Land Rover were smashed by the protesters.
At this point, it would appear that Placanica, a National Service conscript, panicked. When protester Giuliani moved around to the back of the Land Rover and prepared to throw a fire extinguisher at the Carabiniere, he opened fire, killing Giuliani with a bullet to the head.
At that point, the Land Rover became free of the dustbin. Driver Calappio obviously also panicked, then reversed once backwards and drove once forwards over the body of Giuliani. An autopsy on Saturday indicated, however, that Giuliani was killed by gunfire and not by the Carabiniere vehicle. Furthermore, driver Calappio told investigators that in his state of panic, he had not been aware of driving over anyone.
The dead protester, Carlo Giuliani, was the son of a well-known Genoa trade union official and a member of a group calling themselves Punkabestia (Animal Punks). He had a police file, having been charged with "offensive behaviour to a public official", as far back as 1995. He lived by begging on the streets of central Genoa, with his dogs.