The phenomenon of hazing "has long since ceased, fortunately, to concern our armed forces".
This is what we read in the report by military prosecutor Marco De Paolis on the occasion of the inauguration of the judicial year.
"This year too, no significant data have been reported in any of the Military Prosecutor's Offices. This phenomenon, very widespread in the 1980s and 1990s in Italian barracks, has now ceased to interest the armed forces", adds De Paolis.
"The number of members of the Armed Forces registered in the register of crime reports has increased slightly. In 2022 there were 1749 and in 2023 it went to 1830 registered soldiers. Compared to the five-year period, however, there has been a significant increase: from 1563 units of 2018, at 1830 in 2023, with a percentage increase of 17% compared to 2018".
This is what the military attorney general says.
"With regards to female personnel, there were only 66 registrations for female soldiers as persons subjected to investigations during the year, while 67 were found to have assumed the status of offended persons", adds the prosecutor.
"Analysing the results of carrying out the investigation and instruction activities of the proceedings handled overall in the year by the three first instance prosecutors" highlights the military prosecutor as the "percentage of proceedings defined with a request for dismissal: approximately 45% of the total - he explains -. Percentage of proceedings settled with request for committal to trial: approximately 12.5% of the total; percentage of proceedings settled with another type of provision: approximately 6% of the total".
military appeals courts, 100 cases resolved in 2023
During 2023, the number of cases "settled" by the Military Court of Appeal decreased.
This is what emerges from the report by President Giuseppe Mazzi illustrated during the inauguration ceremony of the judicial year.
In the last twelve months there were 100 compared to 133 in 2022 and 150 in 2021. However, the number of proceedings that arose slightly increased: 128 in 2023, 114 in 2022 and 140 in 2021. There were 51 proceedings pending at the end of the year, compared to 23 in 2022 and 42 in 2021.
As regards the times for defining proceedings, an increase was recorded: 123 days in the last year, compared to 114 in 2022 and 182 days in 2021.
"At the three military courts, in Rome, Verona and Naples, 217 proceedings (specifically, 95 in Rome, 55 in Verona and 67 in Naples) and 185 were defined, with a total pending, at the end of the year, of 206 proceedings - we read in the report -. The judges for the investigations preliminary proceedings recorded the occurrence of 1,553 proceedings (substantially in line with the previous year, when the figure stood at 1,549 proceedings; they completed 1,663 of them, with a final pending case of 203 proceedings".
Military appeal, from Biot damage to NATO defense system
The documents covered by NATO secrecy copied by the naval officer, Walter Biot "could not fail to concern security profiles also of the Italian State, as a member country of the Atlantic Alliance, given that Italy has assumed the commitment, the burden of providing part of the capabilities of the various organizational elements that NATO puts in place for the defense of the Alliance's territory".
This is what emerges from the report by the president of the military appeals court Giuseppe Mazzi during the inauguration of the judicial year. Biot, accused of espionage, was sentenced in second degree to 29 years and two months in prison.
"The threat to national interests concerned the southern region of the Atlantic Alliance and the dossiers stolen by Biot had a very concrete content and gave very clear trend lines - we read -, identifying weaknesses, especially with regards to the maritime component, and some critical issues identified in the documents" photographed by Biot "also emerged during the Russia - Ukraine crisis, when NATO found itself forced to remedy the situation and develop exceptional systems, outside of normal routine".
For Mazzi "the story is disconcerting - also due to the traditional dedication, which peculiarly characterizes the officers of the Navy, to the values of loyalty and honor - but here I would like to mention it only to underline how, for the military, the duty of loyalty to the Republic and the Constitution is the fundamental duty which must be accompanied by the obligation to carry out one's duties with discipline and honor".
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