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Sardinian separatist leader dies after two-month-long hunger strike in jail
Topic Started: Jul 5 2017, 02:30 PM (181 Views)
Dust Devil
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Sardinian separatist leader dies after two-month-long hunger strike in jail


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Doddore Meloni


The 74-year-old Sardinian independence campaigner, Salvatore "Doddore" Meloni, died in a Cagliari hospital Wednesday after a two-month-long hunger strike in jail. Meloni was put in jail April 28 to serve time for tax evasion (he denied all charges). He was one of the best-known leaders of Sardinia's independence fight.
It's the only case about a man over the age of 70 arrested for minor financial crime in Italy.
It was found the flag of Sardinia and the Bobby Sands' biography book in his prison cell (the member of Irish Republican Army who died on hunger strike while imprisoned).
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Babborcu
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A state murder of an old man with a troublesome ideology for Italy's Status Quo.
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Arianna
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Shame, criminals enjoy benefits in the mafia italian state while an inoffensive old sardinian independentist is left dying in starvation.
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Arianna
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Hunger strike kills Sardinian separatist Salvatore Meloni



The Sardinian independence campaigner starved himself to death this week in a gesture inspired by the sacrifice of Bobby Sands, the IRA hunger striker, and for a cause few other people believe in with such passion.

An affable man with a bushy white moustache, Mr Meloni, 74, devoted much of his life to Sardinian independence. The former lorry driver was given a nine-year prison sentence in the 1980s for conspiring in a separatist plot against the state, allegedly with support from Colonel Gaddafi of Libya.

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Angioy
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Reposa in paghe, Doddore! Rest in peace Doddore together to Bobby Sands

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marco80
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from BBC

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Sardinian independence activist dies after two-month hunger strike


A prominent Sardinian independence activist has died in hospital in the island's capital Cagliari following a two-month hunger strike.
Salvatore Meloni, 74, locally known as "Doddore" had been serving a prison sentence since April for tax offences.
The condition of his health deteriorated late last month, according to Italian media reports.

The former truck driver had reportedly fallen into a coma days before his death.

In September 2008, Mr Meloni declared the neighbouring private island of Mal di Ventre - Italian for stomach ache - as independent.

He also renamed it as the Republic of Maluentu, declared himself its leader, set up an official residence there comprised of a blue tent and issued his own currency.

Mr Meloni was later convicted, in 2012, alongside five others, of illegally seizing the land and taken to prison in Oristano, in Sardinia's west.
He reportedly said he wouldn't pay taxes to Italy, which he considered a "foreign country".

The activist has also stated in the past that the charges he faced for tax evasion were "unjust" and aimed to prevent him from seeking Sardinian independence.

Mr Meloni served a nine-year prison term in the 1980s for allegedly conspiring alongside the late deposed Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi to secure Sardinia's independence.

The island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy, is famous for its blue waters and Roman ruins. Its capital. Cagliari, has also become a place of arrival migrants travelling from Africa.

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caesium
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Super Admin

An old journalists footage from the 80's about the separatist fights by Doddore.

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Babborcu
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Amnesty International asks for clarity about this sad and abject event to the italian authorities.

http://www.unionesarda.it/articolo/cronaca/2017/07/09/doddore_l_appello_di_amnesty_sia_fatta_piena_luce_sulla_morte-68-621210.html
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Antoni Sias
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An independentist scottish newspaper has dedicated an article to Doddore Melone today:

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Wha's Like Us: Lifelong activist Salvatore Meloni starved himself to death in a Sardinian jail


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THE name of Salvatore Meloni will mean very little to people outside of Italy, but early last month, the man known to many Italians as "Doddore" died in hospital in Cagliari, capital of the island of Sardinia.

Meloni had been a lifelong campaigner for Sardinian independence and he starved himself to death at the age of 74 while in prison for tax offences – he had simply refused to pay taxes to what he called “the foreign country” that is Italy.

Meloni, a former truck driver, had once spent time in jail for conspiring with Colonel Gaddafi of Libya to declare Sardinia an independent republic. In 2008, in order to promote Sardinian independence, he attempted to create a "micro-nation" called the Republic of Maluentu after taking control of the small barren islet of Mal Di Ventre – Maluentu is Sardinian for Mal di Ventre.

Meloni said he was following the lead of separatist movements in Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, declaring Maluentu to be an independent state as part of the Sardinian independence movement.

He declared himself president, set up an official residence in a blue plastic tent, boasted the island was tax-free, and claimed to have more than 300 interested in moving to Maluentu, which was previously a meeting place for the Indipendèntzia Repùbrica de Sardigna, iRS, or Independence Republic of Sardinia.

Five years ago Meloni and five others were convicted of the illegal seizure of the island which was owned by British entrepreneur John Miller. Meloni was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

He was back in jail for more tax offences when he went on hunger strike and died.

His death briefly united in mourning the Sardinian independence movement which has been riven over many years by splits and faction-fighting.

There is an almost bewildering list of parties claiming to be fighting for greater autonomy or independence, but mostly they campaign for the right of self-determination for Sardinians, something the Italian government resists.

At the last regional election, the Sardinian Action Party won the biggest share of the vote by a so-called Sardist party, with the IRS performing dismally and taking less than one per cent of the popular vote.

There are clear differences between parties, too, across the political spectrum.

It was to Edinburgh University that the Universty of Cagliari turned to ensure an objective view of the demand for independence on the island five years ago. Their joint research found that 41 per cent of Sardinians would favour independence while 46 per cent wanted greater autonomy.

Various polls down the years have shown there is demand for either independence or greater autonomy, but the Sardist parties haven’t been able to agree on a way forward.

One recent idea was that Sardinia could become a canton of Switzerland, but it was not taken too seriously. Now, though, there does indeed appear to be the chance of greater unity among the Sardist parties, thanks to the October 22 referenda in Lombardy and Veneto.

The current President of the Sardinian region is Francesco Pigliaru, and he has been at the centre of a dispute over whether Sardinia, like Veneto and Lombardy, should have a referendum, only this time on independence.

Reform party coordinator Pietrino Fois said: “Pigliaru has the opportunity to take the lead and be really the president of all the Sardinians. If he does not want to do so, we will continue without him, along with all those who will want to join us because this is the mother of all battles for Sardinians.”

Attilio Dedoni, party regional adviser, said: “Thanks to the referendums in the two richest regions of Italy we have the opportunity to bring this theme to the attention of the national public that sees the island as a vacation paradise but has no real understanding of its suffering.”


http://www.thenational.scot/news/15486866.Wha_s_Like_Us__Lifelong_activist_Salvatore_Meloni_starved_himself_to_death_in_a_Sardinian_jail/

Edited by Antoni Sias, Aug 22 2017, 01:27 AM.
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gusana
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The last picture of Doddore alive, arrested and handcuffed like a criminal, by italian police. Shameful, nobody in Italy has never been arrested for a supposed tax evasion at 75 years old, neither the true criminals.

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