Milano, Operation “Genus Album”. State Police searches 12 individuals investigated for supremacist and pro-Nazi propaganda on the Internet throughout the country
The State Police has carried out 12 searches throughout Italy against as many individuals deemed responsible for propaganda and incitement to crime for reasons of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination
Milano, Operation “Genus Album”. State Police searches 12 individuals investigated for supremacist and pro-Nazi propaganda on the Internet throughout the country
The State Police carried out 12 searches throughout Italy against as many individuals deemed responsible for propaganda and incitement to crime for reasons of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination.
The activity was carried out by the Cyber Security Operations Center of Lombardy, together with the DIGOS and the territorial offices of the Postal Police. Among the suspects is also a minor.
Operation “Genus Album”, directed by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Milano and by the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office for the relevant profiles, with the operational coordination of the Postal Police Service and Cyber Security and the Central Directorate of Prevention Police is the result of an investigation initiated within the scope of the constant monitoring of the network, an integral part of the institutional mission of the Postal Police. The suspects used Telegram as a platform to meet and discuss far-right, supremacist and pro-Nazi issues, including white supremacy, racial hatred and anti-Semitism.
From the analysis of the chats, the investigators were able to ascertain that the members of the Telegram groups, who declared themselves to belong to the ideology of the “Third Position”, manifested violent intentions towards those who did not respond to the distinctive traits of the so-called “Aryan race”.
In the conversations, the clear intent of "drawing comrades out of the virtual" emerged, a purpose that materialized in the organization of in-person gatherings and in the promotion of concrete actions to change the state of things.. In fact, mere membership in the Telegram groups under investigation was considered completely insufficient if not accompanied by concrete commitment in the real world.
Several weapons, air rifles and airsoft, including a rifle and an automatic pistol, flags with the symbols of Nazism and Fascism, propaganda leaflets as well as social accounts and electronic devices of investigative interest were seized. Three hunting rifles were also confiscated as a precaution.
The suspects are aged between 17 and 24 years old.. The youngest, still a minor, is a senior high school student. Only one – the oldest – works: he is a twenty-four-year-old from Como employed at a factory in Switzerland. The others are all university students enrolled in various faculties, including Languages, History, Philosophy, Classics and Veterinary Medicine.
During the searches carried out at dawn on December 19 by the Lombardy Postal Police together with the equivalent offices of Lazio, Veneto, Tuscany, Puglia, Campania, Calabria and Basilicata and by the territorially competent Digos, the computer devices of the suspects were found and they were analysed directly on site thanks to the use of advanced digital forensics tools.. These analyses have provided ample confirmation of what had already emerged in the previous phases of the investigations, also allowing the acquisition of further elements useful for the continuation of the investigative activity.
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