This is the english translation of Fabios tellings, who is finely free, after more than four month of imprisonment. You can find the original italian interview here.
 
The pale blue shirt is crinkled since, understandably, you can’t do any ironing in prison.
The grown back hair is provisionaly dressed to make a good impression despite the tiredness.
Among it, maybe even some white hair. Such an experience leaves traces.
Maybe a few kilos less as there was just unsalted potatoes, rice, bread and half-decent meat for food in Prison.
But something did not change. The same smile shines in his face as ever.
A smile that says: ‘It is lovely to be free.’
How did you pull through this experience?
For me, as a political prisoner, the time inside was easier that for a common criminal.
I received a lot of solidarity also because my situation was different from the others.
People wrote to me, tried to help my parents, who were also wonderful.
I knew that there were rallies organized in Feltre and Belluno that demanded my release and organized money for the legal defense.
Why have you been arrested?
Because g20 failed due to the protests, because the protests got more press attention than the summit,
because our presence disturbed the government and the mayor. The minister for economy
was blocked by the protests. We were more efficient.
Why did you decided to protest?
It came from the heart. I thought it is just to go to the streets and show,
that not 20 people supposed to sit around a table to direct the fate of the world.
We are free and want to decide about or lives our selves.
Inequality in the world rises, climate change is not payed for by the ones in command,
migrants die in the med without anyone giving a shit.
There were many reason that made me go out of the house, get off work and come here.
How was life in prison?
I was lucky, i wasn’t in prison long. Five month are not much.
There are prisoners who are in for years and it doesn’t help to think
about the big ones, who already went through it. It is enough to think
about other boys than me.
During the day i read, wrote letters and talked with other prisoners,
with who i always had good relations. Many of them showed solidarity and
i will continue writing them.
It was not easy because not all guards act the same and you don’t know
when you get out. But i made it.
What will you calmly remember?
It was a strong experience for me: I learned to be nice, to listen to everyone
and to try to understand everyone. In prison i was among people who were like
me but would have deserved more. In prison the most vulnerable meet, the oppressed,
the migrants, the ones with unimaginable life stories.
I was lucky, i had amazing parents and a great childhood, so i didn’t lack anything.
While many of my cell mates where not as lucky.
Because they were born on the wrong end of the earth, in a poor place where they could not study
and even if they had work, they didn’t have money for food and suffered hunger.
In hope for a better life they came to Europe where they didn’t found what they were searching for
and where they had to steal and sell drugs to survive. That is horrible.
Did you learn german?
A little bit, because everyone was speaking it. Only a few spoke english, just some boys from Africa.
Some of the guards knew how to speak it but they preferred to speak german.
What did you think when they didn’t let you out from prison?
There were many bad moments. To be honest, i also didn’t count on
being able to leave today; i was prepared for a release in February.
But i understood that there was a reason for me being here, that is that
i had actualized my resistance and therefor i had to endure this.
Even if they would have kept me for longer.
Fabio encountered a Hamburg full of lights and people in solidarity,
those who also helped his mother who was not able to travel
to Germany without difficulties. ‘To know that she had to suffer
because of me was one of the toughest things to accept. But i
was lucky, she always reaches out to me. She is like a rock, i am fortunate
to have a mother like this.’
When the lawyers, his mother, his friends and Fabio – finely free – left the
courtroom, they met for a shared meal. The first plate tastes like freedom.
They are having pork shop with fries, many fries, as Fabio likes it.
First thing that strikes the mom is the way Fabio walks: ‘He seems confused
rather than happy.’ You can hear in her voice the fear that the prison had negative impacts
on her son. But Fabio didn’t seem to notice. He just thanks her, thousandfold, for the ‘rescue of
his life’. He keeps repeating: ‘i am out of prison’, as if he wants to convince himself of it.
Barely leaving the courtroom he suggests to go for a beer. Everyone agrees.
The mother barely can keep her eyes off of Fabio. She calls him star, kisses and hugs him, still not believing.
She keeps telling him to relax while he lists his friends from Feltre (Fiorenzo came from Cadore to give him hugs from everyone) and his mother says full of anticipation: ‘We will have plenty of time, to do all sorts of things’.
Enough for further three month.
While he waited for his order, Fabio started to read newspaper comments
about his trial on his mothers phone. She admonished him: ‘That will not do you any good.’
But he keeps on reading and smiles. Among the first things Fabio wants to enjoy is coffee,
because the one in prison really wasn’t great. ‘The kurdish guy bought one pack for 20 Euros’,
Fabio tells and paints with his hand a small pile. ‘I can not say that it was good.’
Also the canteen seemed not do its job as, ‘i reached a point where i buzzed myself
with coffee spoons full of sugar.’
Today he will go back to the Prison for minors Hahnöversand. This time without escort
and handcuffs. Just to get the last of his things.
Jamila Baroni (Fabios Mother) is looking for an apartment as she is sharing a room
with another italian women at the moment.
In the evening a phone call with Maria follows, the girl that was arrested with him and again
released while he was waiting for his trial. A phone call full of laughter and lightheartedness.
It was needed.