Pescara, Riccardo Zappone, 30 years old, who died after the use of the Taser. How sure is the use of “electrical impulses” weapons?

A thirty -year -old man, disarmed, dies after being hit with a Taser by the police. It happens in Pescara, and rekindles the debate on what is sure, and above all how legitimate it is, the use of weapons “to electrical impulses” by the police.

According to the first reconstructions of the prosecutor, the story would take place around 11 in the morning, during A dispute on the street. Upon arrival of the police, Riccardo Zappone, originally from San Giovanni Teatino, would have resisted. The agents, defining the “critical” situation, they used the taser to immobilize it. The man was arrested for resistance to public official and brought to the police station. But there, waiting for the investigations, He accused an illness and collapsed. He died shortly after arrival in the hospital.

The Minister of the Interior, Matteo planted, intervened a few hours later: «It is a tragedy that pains us. Now investigations will be developedit is also our interest to understand if the death had a correlation with the use of the Taser ». He then recalled that this weapon “is the alternative to the use of more offensive tools, such as firearm”. But the hypothesis that the Taser has contributed to the death of Zappone is not yet excluded.

The autopsy, already willing, will establish whether between the electric discharge and the death there is a direct link. Meanwhile, we also investigate Zappone’s physical conditions: did he have heart problems? Was he under the influence of drugs? All questions still unanswered.

In his recent report entitled I still can’t sleep at night, Amnesty denounces an increasingly widespread and often improper use of electric discharge weapons globally. “They can be used legitimately in police operations,” reads, “but are often used incorrectly”. There are numerous documented cases in which these devices have been used against “groups of people at risk”, causing serious injuries and, in some cases, death.

The greatest risk, according to Amnesty, is the impact on subjects suffering from cardiac pathologies or altered state. “These conditions often do not know each other at the time of use and are discovered only after the blow has been shot,” warns the organization.

But the dangers are not limited to the single episode. Amnesty denounces a systemic use of these tools in places of detention, police stations, psychiatric institutions and prisonsunderlining that discharges can cause “severe pains, permanent disabilities and serious psychological disorders”.

Among the documented effects there are “disputes, fractures, muscle spasms, convulsions, loss of body control, transfers, defecation and involuntary urination”. The testimonies collected speak of “intense pain”, of “injuries similar to burns” and “insomnia, intrusive and traumatic thoughts”.

The Taser, produced by the American Axon Enterprise, It is now supplied to over 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the world And it is presented as a “less lethal” weapon. In Italy, its use is also extending to the municipal police of some cities. But this silent diffusion worries amnesty.

“For over 50 years we have documented cases of torture and mistreatment related to the use of weapons with electrical impulse in direct contact,” he says The Association, which asks for “an immediate ban” for this type of tools. For all other electrical devices, Amnesty invokes rigorous and transparent control.

Together with more than 80 civil society organizations, Amnesty has launched a campaign for a Treated on trade free from torturethat prohibits weapons and tools that can be used for mistreatment or inhuman and degrading treatments, such as those with electric discharge.

Riccardo Zappone’s death imposes a serious reflection on what “security” means and what tools are truly compatible with respect for human rights. If the tragedy of Pescara had been avoided, the results of the autopsy and the judicial investigation will say it.