ITALY: Intimidation of anti-mafia civil society
Anti-mafia civil society organisations in Italy have faced renewed acts of intimidation, highlighting broader concerns about the space for civic engagement and the defence against organised crime. In May, the local office of Libera — a prominent CSO working against organised crime, in particular the mafia — in Boscotrecase, Campania, which is shared with Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d’Italia (ANPI), an association founded by partisans and participants of the Italian Resistance against the Italian fascist regime, was vandalised and set on fire. Libera described the attack as an act of intimidation against anti-mafia civic engagement. Similarly, in July, the cooperative Libera Terra – Rosario Livatino, which manages land confiscated from organised crime, reported repeated acts of intimidation, including arson, theft, the destruction of beehives, and repeated raids. The perpetrators of the attacks are unknown in both cases.