Bologna mobilizes over the investigation targeting doctors. "We built a campaign that sparked debate about the pathogenic nature of CPRs [Migrant Detention Centers], where migrants suffer, endure violence and die. We never said: issue false certificates. The heart of the campaign is to ignite an ethical and deontological debate. Shall we call it civil disobedience?" said Nicola Cocco yesterday — identified by prosecutor Angela Scorza as the coordinator of the alleged "criminal association."
"I have nothing to hide"
Among the communications seized during the search of Cocco's premises were reportedly exchanges with parliamentarian Ilaria Cucchi, who denounced the matter: "Dear prosecutor, you have committed an act against Article 68. I have nothing to hide, but I perceive this as intimidation." The general director of Sant'Orsola hospital, Chiara Gibertoni, took a public stance through a notice posted on the hospital's internal network, expressing her solidarity with the two infectious disease specialists involved.
The Policlinico's statement
"We feel it is our duty," she wrote, "to demonstrate our solidarity with the two professionals at a very difficult time. We await the outcome of the investigations, with the utmost respect for the work of law enforcement, the judiciary and investigators." The two professionals "are not under investigation." And "being escorted to the police station at dawn and having one's working tools seized is an experience that can generate concern and tension." Medical assessments of individuals accompanied by law enforcement, she concluded, "have always been part of our Policlinico's activities and are carried out with the same care and professionalism as every other service. Our doctors have performed and will continue to perform their work with competence, attentiveness and responsibility."
"A disproportionate operation"
At a time when "balance, prudence and humanity" are needed, "the Policlinico will stand firmly and discreetly by its two colleagues: we are a great community, and in difficult moments we cannot leave people alone." Meanwhile, lawyers Francesca Cancellaro, Sonia Lama, Mariaelena Monaco, Salvo Tesoriero and Maria Virgilio, who are defending some of those under investigation in Ravenna, also issued a strongly worded statement. "The searches and seizures carried out over recent days in a manifestly disproportionate manner signal a qualitative escalation in the use of investigative force, now deployed in the purported investigation of a criminal association aimed at falsifying certificates. Those certificates contain no falsifications, but rather attentive listening, care and a professional assessment grounded in full professional autonomy. And in the background there is no criminal association, but rather a shared sense of the high dignity and responsibility of the physician in the face of human vulnerability."
