Decision of the First Assize Court of Milan No. 8 of 19 December 2016

With this decision, the First Assize Court of Milan convicted, among others, an Italian foreign fighter, Maria Giulia Sergio, and his father (S. Sergio) for the crime of association with purposes of international terrorism, a crime established under Article 270 bis of the criminal code. According to the Court, the offence provided for by Article 270 bis covers also the conduct of, merely, putting himself or herself ‘at the disposal’ of so-called Islamic State network, to implement its terrorist programme. The Islamic State qualify as a terrorist organization on the grounds of the UN Security Council Resolutions No. 2170 and No. 2178 of 2014. It is structured as a flexible network, in which one can contribute to the terrorist programme without necessarily be in touch with the network leaders or other participants. In the case, the intercepted phone calls of the defendants revealed their adherence to the principles of the Islamic State and willingness to take active part in its criminal activity, by means of, inter alia, proselytizing and propaganda actions. For the Court such conduct was enough to find the accused guilty of terrorist association.