Actions and documents of the Free Trieste Movement

Since its foundation in late 2011, the Free Trieste Movement produced many documents and organized many actions on the local, Italian and international level to promote the re-establishment of the rule of law in the Free Territory of Trieste, an independent, sovereign State established and recognized under international law and currently administered by the Italian Government under a special trusteeship mandate sub-entrusted to it by the Governments of the United States and of the United Kingdom on behalf of the United Nations Security Council.

Further information about the legal status of the Free Territory of Trieste is published here: LINK.

This constantly updated page collects as PDF documents the main acts that define and sharpen the policy of the Free Trieste Movement, which can be downloaded, studied and read.

July 2011:

Roberto Giurastante re-opens the question of the Free Territory of Trieste before the European Commission. He acts as representative of environmentalist organizations Greenaction Transnational and Alpe Adria Green. A few months later, Roberto Giurastante founded the Free Trieste Movement - FTM.

April - September 2012:

The Free Trieste Movement informs the people of Trieste about their rights, as well as organizing demonstrations to defend the Northern Free Port (Porto Franco Nord) from speculative attempts of Italian politicians who called it "old port" (Porto Vecchio, because to them old = useless) as part of an operation to destroy it against the law.

November - December 2012:

Free Trieste supports Greenaction Transnational's opposition to Gas Natural's LNG terminal in Trieste with widely supported demonstrations and information campaigns.

November - December 2012:

Free Trieste supports Greenaction Transnational's opposition to Gas Natural's LNG terminal in Trieste with widely supported demonstrations and information campaigns.

February and April 2013:

After one years of preparation and information, the FTM promotes the first NO ELECTION DAY: the citizens of the F.T.T. denounce at the polling stations the illegitimacy of national (February) and regional (April) elections summoned by the Italian Republic, a third State, within the present-day Free Territory of Trieste, violating its status of independent sovereign State under the provisional administration of the Italian Government.

Regional elections are denounced before the Regional Administrative Court (Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale - TAR) of Friuli Venezia Giulia by 57 citizens: the result is judgment 530/2013, a scandalous document that denies the very existence of the Free Territory of Trieste. This judgment is analysed and completely disproved in a specific expertise published by the Law Commission of the I.P.R. F.T.T. (International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste): LINK.

June 28th, 2013:

International complaint and notice of default concerning the violation of the Memorandum of Understanding of London committed by both the Italian Government and the State of Italy as for the administration of the Free Territory of Trieste: LINK.

December 2013:

The Petition for the re-establishment of the legitimate provisional regime of government in the present-day Free Territory of Trieste and requesting the re-opening of the procedures for the appointment of the Governor and the establishment of its permanent regime of Government reaches 15,000 signatures.

March 2014:

International complaint versus Italian authorities who abuse of the amministrazione di sostegno (an Italian legal concept similar to Conservatorship in the U.S. and literally translated as "supporting administration") in the Free Territory of Trieste. By doing so, these authorities act outside of their jurisdiction and they do also gain illegal profits from managing the properties of the personse they claim to assist: LINK.

May - June 2014:

The campaign for active non-voting or NO ELECTION DAY is repeated with the occasion of European elections, since those were summoned outside the competences of the European Union since the provisional Italian Government has never associated the FTT to it. All acts are sent to the European Parliament.

The answer of the President of the European Parliament: LINK.

July 2014:

Integration of the notice of default against the Italian Government, presented to the UN Security Council, to the UN Trusteeship Council and to the UN Human Rights Council.

September 2014:

- International, formal notice to the Italian Government concerning the management of the Free Port of Trieste, with Annexes: the drafts of the decrees that would allow the Italian – or another – Government to properly administer the Free Port of Trieste as a State Corporation of the Free Territory of Trieste, offering enormous advantages to the International Community: LINK.

- International, criminal complaint to both the Italian Government and the United Nations as for the scarce interest of local administrators for social assistance and requiring the adoption of basic income for the citizens of the Free Territory of Trieste in need: LINK.

- Presentation of the appeal against the judgment of Italian Adminsitrative Cours against the appeal of the citizens who requested the declaration of the illegality of Italian elections in the FTT to the European Court of Human Right of Strasbourg. The judgments are No. 530/2013 of the T.A.R. (Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale) of Friuli Venezia Giulia, and No. 1350/14 of the Italian Council of State.

December 2014:

First international class action of the Free Trieste Movement, representing the citizens of the FTT, against the State of Italy for allowing compulsory military service in the territory under the administrati theof the Italian Government and the inclusion, to date, of citizens of the Free Territory of Trieste in Italian conscription lists.

January 2015:

At the end of December, 2014, the Italian parliament approves norms ruling the removal of the free zone from the Northern section of the international Free Port of Trieste, which is expected to be removed from State Property. The Free Trieste Movement denounces this serious violation of the rights of both the FTT and the International Community with a formal notice, opposing to the illegal dismiss half of the International Free Port of Trieste: LINK.

March 2015:

In accordance with Annex X of the Treaty of Peace with Italy, begins the Campaign of Fiscal Liberation for citizens and enterprises of the FTT, where the Republic of Italy does illegally collect its taxes, causing a massive damage to Trieste’s economy and to the international Free Port.

- The document presented to the Italian Tax Commission: LINK.

- The Request to the Commissioner of the Italian Government in Trieste: LINK.

- Official Communication to the Italian authorities concerned: LINK.

April 2015:

- The Free Trieste Movement presents a second request to the Commissioner of Government (representative of the Italian Government) demanding that she declares the legal inefficacy of judgements TAR FVG No. 530/2013 and Italian Council of State No. 1350/2014. Both had rejected as unfounded and even “subversive” the request of the Movement to cancel the summoning of Italian regional elections in the Free Territory of Trieste as if it were a part of Italy: LINK.

- Follows another request to the Commissioner of Government, for her to declare the legal inefficacy of judgments falsely stating the restoration of Italian sovereignty over Trieste in fiscal proceedings and resulting in a serious violation of the legitimate rights of the people of the FTT: LINK.

- Request, under the Austrian Land Registry Law (Grundbuch) in force in Trieste, to register the ownership of the Northern Free Port as “State Property of the Free Territory of Trieste”, the ultimate action in defense of the international Free Port and of the related rights of all States (established under Annex VIII of the Treaty of Peace): LINK.

- The Free Trieste Movement puts in default the Commissioner of the Port Authority, Mr. D’Agostino, as for the enforcement of the law regarding the management of the international Free Port of Trieste and has sent to him a copy of the previous complaints on the subject: LINK.

May 2015:

- The Free Trieste Movement presents an anti-mafia and anticorruption complaint and a warning against the State Property Office of the Republic of Italy and other Italian authorities who want to sell the northern free zone of the International Free Port, as that is established as a “State corporation” of the Free Territory of Trieste (Annex VIII – Treaty of Peace of Paris, UNTS 49): LINK.

- Notification of the “Charter of Rights of the Citizens and Enterprises of the Free Territory of Trieste” to the to the Commissioner of Government. This document is based on Resolution 16/1947 of the Security Council of the United Nations, on the Treaty of Peace of 1947, on the Memorandum of London of 1954, and it recalls the principles of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, the Charter of the United Nations, and the main international Conventions on the Law of Treaties: LINK.

- Formal warning to Equitalia S.P.A. to suspend the collection of taxes «charged on the citizens and enterprises of the Free Territory of Trieste on behalf of bodies of the State of Italy, under laws of the State of Italy which were not legitimately extended to the legal order of the Free Territory (see. Civil Court of Cassation, Division I, Judgment No. 323 of February 26th, 1965) and for charges including portions of the Italian public debt (prohibited under article 5 of Annex X of the Treaty of Peace of Paris of February 10th, 1947): LINK.

June 2015:

- Petition to open the first international dispute on the current Free Territory of Trieste (FTT) and its international Free Port before the European Parliament and, through it, to the European Commission, with the procedure of petition under Article 227 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU: LINK.

- Notification to the Commissioner of the Italian Government, in charge of exercizing the administration of the Free Territory and, through them, to the Italian prime minister, of the formal request to regularize the fiscal situation of Trieste within 90 days, upon the immediate precautionary suspension of fiscal proceeding, including executive actions and evictions, consequent from Italian laws that cannot be enforced, in Trieste due to not being regularly extended to the FTT: LINK.

- Local politicians declare the will to force an operation for the removal of the international Free Port of the Free Territory of Trieste from State Property, making it available for an illegal building speculation, which is under serious anti-mafia and anti-corruption questions. The Free Trieste Movement reacts warning the Italian authorities involved for them to refrain from this criminal action: LINK.

July 2015:

- The Free Trieste Movement opened before the Commissioner of the Government the question of the current Province of Trieste, established as an autonomous body of the Free Territory under Order No. 259 of 1948 of the AMG – FTT, without continuity nor territorial identity with the homonymous and more extended province of the Kingdom of Italy which, as such, existed only from 1922-23 to 1943: LINK.

- Formal letter of warning to Italian authorities in Trieste (the Mayor, Roberto Cosolini, the President of the Region, Debora Serracchiani, the director of the Italian State Property Office, Roberto Reggi, all members of the PD, along with the Commissioner of the Port Authority imposed by the PD last February, Zeno D’Agostino) which recalls also previous acts and opened procedures on the Italian, European and international level, stating that the attempted elimination of the Northern Free Port is illegal under both Italian and international law: LINK.

- The Free Trieste Movement requests the Commissioner of the Government to abrogate the Decrees of the Commissioner General of the Italian Government which extended military conscription in Italian armed forces to the (present-day) Free Territory of Trieste back in 1957: LINK.

August 2015:

- Second request to register the ownership of the Northern Free Port as “State Property of the Free Territory of Trieste”, to defend the international Free Port and the rights of all States over it (established under Annex VIII of the Treaty of Peace). This act follows the one lodged in April and also responds to further illegal attempts of local politicians and officers to eliminate the Northern Free Port of Trieste: LINK.

- Notification to of a “public warning” to the Harbor Master’s office to denounce that both the tender for the concession of tug services in the Free Port of Trieste and its outcome could be impugned for original absolute nullity. Annexed to the document is the Petition to the European Parliament of June 2015: LINK.

September 2015:

- Notification to the Italian Government of a “Public Notice” in Italian and English to remind the upcoming expiration of the deadline set by the «Formal invitation to comply within 90 days to the obligations established under International and Italian law in regard to the Free Territory of Trieste, its citizens and residents, its enterprises and its institutions».

Starting at Midnight of 15 September, the Free Trieste Movement formalizes the verification of the omissions and defaults of the Italian Government to «promptly activate the needed legal remedies under international and domestic law arranged for the case».

The document: LINK.

- The FTM announces the establishment of the International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste, I.P.R. F.T.T, legitimated it with specific, direct delegations of the private, public and international subjects who hold the violated rights. This is a special legal instrument, being the situation of the Free Territory of Trieste and of its international Free Port unprecedented: LINK

October 2015:

- The Free Trieste Movement sent to the Committee on Petition of the European Parliament an integration to its urgent petition «To denounce serious violations of international law and of the law of the European Union in the legal, political and economic relations of the European Union and of the Republic of Italy toward the current Free Territory of Trieste and toward the other Member States of the E.U. and of the International Community».

At the same time, it has sent the first four, international adhesions to the petition, received from organizations of the Czech Republic and of Austria.

- The Free Trieste Movement formally invites the Commissioner of the Italian Government and Prefect, as well as Region Friuli Venezia Giulia to immediately suspend, and then cancel both the collection of taxes and executive measures of the State of Italy toward the E.Z.I.T. – Ente Zona Industriale di Trieste (organization for the development of the industrial zone of Trieste) established in 1949 as a public body of the F.T.T. through the powers of temporary civil administration of the Free Territory of Trieste, delegated to these bodies under article 70 of Constitutional Law No. 1/1963.

The document was also notified to the I.P.R. F.T.T. – International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste.

The document: LINK.

- To save the Northern Free Port from the illegal and deceptive speculation operations of the Italian political-institutional mismanagement, the Free Trieste Movement notified to them this public formal notice. If Italian authorities force the situation, their acts to trade or hand over the Northern Free Port null and void. The act was notified to the I.P.R. F.T.T. (International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste): LINK.

November 2015:

The Free Trieste Movement notified to local and Italian authorities an «Exposé concerning the collection of undue taxes from the Ente per la Zona Industriali di Trieste – organization for the development of the industrial zone of Trieste (EZIT) and related alleged offences» denouncing the liabilities of the administrators of this organization, which is a State Corporation of the Free Territory of Trieste, currently entrusted to the temporary administration of the Italian Government: LINK.

January 2016:

- A «Letter of formal notice and invitation to comply with the law in carrying out the temporary civil administration of the international Free Port of the Free Territory of Trieste for all related civil and criminal liabilities» is sent to the Italian administration in charge of the temporary civil administration of the F.T.T. for them to abstain from removing the Northern Free Port from the Properties of State of the Free Territory of Trieste and delegating the I.P.R. F.T.T. to perform all international actions needed for the protection of the rights and legitimate interests represented in the act: LINK.

- The Free Trieste Movement requests the de-taxation of Italian pensions for the residents and citizens of the Free Territory to the Italian social security institution INPS as envisioned under Annex X of the 1947 Peace Treaty. Free Trieste does also delegate the “International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste – I.P.R. F.T.T.” for it to exercise international defense on the subject. LINK.

February 2016:

A «Notice to fulfill to all obligations established under the international law, under the mandate of temporary civil administration and of the Italian legal order concerning the Free Territory of Trieste» is sent to all administering Italian authorities. The document follows the warning sent on 29 June 2015 and is based on the U.N. Security Council Report S/2015/809, which confirms the legal status of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste: LINK.

- Request to the Commissioner of the provisional Italian Government «Of urgent visual marking of the State Border between the Free Territory of Trieste and the Republic of Italy» to defend international and domestic legality, civil and military law and order, also in connection to the notorious problems cause by the increasing illegal trafficking of human beings and things, including traffics of weapons and drugs: LINK.

March 2016:

The Free Trieste Movement presents to the Commissioner of the Italian Government in Trieste the formal request to extend to the citizens of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste the right to vote in the Italian referendum about the search and extraction of hydrocarbons in the Adriatic Sea, which took place on 17 April.

The citizensof the entrusted Free Territory could only vote if the provisional Government or its Commissioner had issued a specific legislative act, otherwise the vote of those citizens might give raise to the nullity and voidness of the referendum for breach of the constitutional and international legal obligations of the Italian Government and of the State of Italy towards the Free Territory of Trieste: LINK.

- Mr. Roberto Giurastante, President of Free Trieste, and Mr. Paolo G. Parovel, responsible of foreign relations of the Movement, announce to have opened the procedure to register ex lege the ownership of the areas of the Northern Free Port of Trieste to the International Free Port of the Free Territory of Trieste, pursuant the Treaty of Peace with Italy of 10 February 1947 and the special rights of all U.N. Member States: LINK.

April 2016:

On April 11, the Free Trieste Movement - FTM presented to the competent administrative and judicial Courts a documented administrative and criminal complaint versus the heads of the “Equitalia S.p.A”, the state-owned company that is also the concessionaire for the collection of taxes on behalf of the State of Italy. The denounce sent from Trieste regards the alleged crimes of fraud in public deeds, abuse of office, fraud and extortion, at the expenses of white categories of natural and legal persons: LINK.

July 2016:

The Free Trieste Movement denounces to the Prosecution Office of the Republic in Trieste the Commissioner of the Italian Government in the Free Territory of Trieste, Annapaola Porzio: o the 6th of July she had issued a “Communication” claiming that the Free Territory does not exist, and threatening with pecuniary and criminal sanctions the citizens who presented the declaration of tax objection with reasons against the imposition of taxes of the State of Italy in Trieste: LINK.

December 2016:

The Free Trieste Movement addressed the administering Italian Government with the first 424 requests of citizens of Trieste who, through the Commissioner that represents the provisional Italian Government in Trieste, have requested the Municipalities of Trieste and of Muggia be placed under compulsory administration. The legal base of the request is the same that was announced during the elections: the illegality, established also by the Italian Constitution, of the enforcement of electoral laws of the Italian State that were never extended to the Free Territory, and violate the proportional principle of its voting system and legal order.

April 2017:

The Free Trieste Movement has sent to the Commissioner of the Government and Prefect, to the head of the Police (Quaestor) and to the Prosecutor of the Republic an urgent note regarding social damages and danger to public order caused, in Trieste, by the normal delays in the payment income support contribution to thousand of citizens and families that live in poverty (the English translation is on the second page): LINK.

June 2017 - May 2018:

The Free Trieste Movement supports the collection of adhesions to the legal action on tax rights No. 1757/17, initiated by the International Provisional Representative of the Free Territory of Trieste – I.P.R. F.T.T. VS Court the Italian Government, its Ministry of Economy and Finance, its Fiscal Agencies (Tax Revenues, State Property, Customs and Monopolies) and the INPS (Italian National Institute of Social Insurance) to verify the legitimacy of the collection of the enormous taxes of the Italian State in the present-day Free Territory of Trieste and in its international Free Port.

October - November 2018:

The Free Trieste Movement supports the impugnation of the decision of first instance in legal action No. 1757/17 before the Court of second instance (LINK).

November 2018 - March 2021:

Free Trieste has joined civil lawsuit No. 4277/2018, pending before the Court of Trieste, requesting the demonstration that Trieste and its international Free Port are exempted from the Italian Value Added Tax - VAT (IVA) in accordance with Italian laws in force, including domestic laws implementing in the Italian legal system international laws and E.U. legislation. The lawsuit is initiated by the I.P.R. F.T.T. VS the Italian Government, the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Tax Revenue Office, and the Customs and Monopolies Agency. Free Trieste collects all new adhesions: LINK.

Since February 2020:

The Free Trieste Movement supports the I.P.R. F.T.T. in its lawsuit regarding the administration and the taxation of the international Free Port of Trieste, established as a State corporation of the present-day Free Territory of Trieste: LINK.

July 2020 - July 2023::

The Free Trieste Movement supports the I.P.R. F.T.T. before the Court of Appeal of Trieste, seeking the annulment ex art. 394, No. 4 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure of the judgment of second instance in the lawsuit regarding the taxation enforceable in the present-day Free Territory of Trieste for factual errors: LINK.

Free Trieste continues also to collect adhesions to the lawsuit on the inapplicability of the Value Added Tax (VAT - IVA) of the Italian State in Trieste LINK, as well as to the lawsuit regarding the management of the international Free Port: LINK.

May 2022:

Free Trieste and the I.P.R. F.T.T. impugn before the second instance of judgment the decision of first instance regarding the determination of the non-applicability of the Italian VAT in Trieste (appeal 209/2022).

From January 2021 to December 2022:

Free Trieste supports the I.P.R. F.T.T. initiatedversus the Italian Government for the demonstration of the taxation rights of Trieste and of its international Free Port before the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation: LINK.

September 2022 - Since July 2023:

Free Trieste and the I.P.R. F.T.T. impugn for annulment the Court of Cassation's scandalous judgment No. 8600/2022 regarding the present-day Free Territory of Trieste's taxation rights: LINK.

July 2023:

Free Trieste and the I.P.R. F.T.T. enable the first procedures for the intervention of the Court of Justice of the European Union (LINK) in appeal 242/2023 regarding the management of the international Free Port of the Free Territory of Trieste and the illegitimate agreements regarding the People's Republic of China.