DISINFO: In Italy, a tyrannical government has turned police forces into the Gestapo
SUMMARY
In Italy, similarly to Australia, New Zealand and other Western countries, a tyrannical government has turned the police forces into a “health Gestapo” exploiting the coronavirus pandemic.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that Western governments have exploited the coronavirus pandemic in order to abolish liberal democracies and establish dictatorships.
Various lockdown measures taken by the Western democracies aim to protect public health against the COVID-19 virus, which has killed millions of people worldwide and is a real danger for populations around the world.
The article is obviously falsifying reality by claiming that in Italy, which has introduced the Green Pass (the European Covid Digital Certificate), police forces act like the Gestapo, the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The emergency provisions, such as certain curtailment of freedom of movement, are tools that democratic governments have decided in accordance with law and need to use, for a limited period of time, in order to rapidly and effectively protect the public health of citizens.
Liberal democratic states are entitled to declare a state of emergency in times of grave crisis, such as a natural disaster, civil unrest, armed conflict, or an epidemic. During a state of emergency, a government is empowered to perform actions or impose policies that it would normally not be permitted to undertake. In liberal democracies, emergency measures must be temporary, limited to what is necessary and strictly proportionate. The state of emergency introduced in Italy in order to fight the COVID-19 pandemic is in line with the requirements of the Italian constitution (articles 16, 17 and 32).
EU countries are not free to shape their emergency measures as they wish. EU treaties and human rights instruments - such as the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), OSCE commitments and the United Nations human rights treaty system - continue to apply even during crises. See the statement by European Commission President von der Leyen on emergency measures in Member States.
Furthermore, Italy’s Green Pass - the European Covid Digital Certificate - does not restrict the freedom of citizens: it is a health declaration certifying non-positive status for the COVID-19 virus.
Reference and comparison to the Nazis is a recurring feature of pro-Kremlin disinformation.
Read similar cases claiming that Italy is governed by a Nazi-style dictatorship imposed with COVID-19, that Italy and other states have deliberately used the COVID-19 pandemic to establish sanitary dictatorships, and that Western campaign against COVID-19 aims to impose control over society