Italy: The alleged ill-treatment of Salvatore Messina and Filippo Campanella by vigili urbani in Palermo

Fifteen-year-old Salvatore Messina lodged a formal complaint that he was threatened and beaten by vigili urbani on the night of 11 March 1994. A medical certificate issued by Villa Sofia hospital apparently recorded various injuries to his face. A judicial investigation has reportedly been opened into his complaint. Filippo Campanella, a 29-year-old electronics technician, has stated that on the afternoon of 15 March he was punched and kicked repeatedly until he lost consciousness by vigili urbani on via Wagner, Palermo. There were numerous eye-witnesses to the alleged incident, one of whom apparently ended the beating by calling the carabinieri. Filippo Campanella was still in a neurosurgery ward ten days later with partial paralysis in his right leg which confined him to a wheelchair. A judicial investigation has been opened.

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