Felice Casson (born 5 August 1953 in

Chioggia Chioggia (; vec, Cióxa , locally ; la, Clodia) is a coastal town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Venice in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Geography The town is situated on a small island at the southern entrance to the L ...

Province of Venice The Province of Venice (''Provincia di Venezia'') was a province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Its capital was the city of Venice. It had an area of 2,467 km2, and a total population of 846,962 (2011). The province became the Met ...

) is an Italian

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, who discovered the existence of

Operation Gladio Operation Gladio is the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (alliance), Western Union (WU), and subsequently by NATO and the CIA, in collaboration with several European Int ...

, a "

stay-behind In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organizations in its own territory, for use in case an enemy occupies that territory. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement or act as sp ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

army during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, while investigating on the Peteano bombing in 1972, for which two neo-fascists were convicted; the explosives used in the attack supposedly came from a NATO arms cache. 622 Gladio members, including two people who served as prime minister and president, were exposed in the course of the investigation.Gladio prosecutor Casson: Ergenekon-like organizations spread like cancer
, ''

Today's Zaman ''Today's Zaman'' (Zaman is Turkish for 'time' or 'age') was an English-language daily newspaper based in Turkey. Established on 17 January 2007, it was the English-language edition of the Turkish daily '' Zaman.'' ''Today's Zaman'' included dom ...

'', 28 April 2008 Felice Casson is a Member of the

Senate of the Italian Republic The Senate of the Republic ( it, Senato della Repubblica), or simply the Senate ( it, Senato), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Chamber of Deputies). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral s ...

. He obtained a law degree from

Padua University The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

and entered the magistracy in 1980 as an investigating magistrate. He was subsequently appointed as responsible for preliminary investigations and was public prosecutor in Venice from 1993 to 2005. He has been on leave since 2006 following his election to the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament ( it, Parlamento italiano) is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1943), the transitiona ...

. In 2008 he was re-elected to the Senate and elected Vice President of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Group. As a magistrate, among the many investigations conducted by Casson - especially in the field of terrorism, the fight against corruption, environmental security, the protection of workers and citizens from exposure to carcinogenic agents - are those on the

Peteano massacre The Peteano massacre was a neo-fascist terrorist attack which occurred on May 31, 1972 in Peteano, a ''frazione'' of Sagrado (Gorizia), Italy. An anonymous call led five carabinieri to check a suspicious car, which turned out to be a car bomb ...

, disloyalty of the intelligence service and the State apparatus, terrorism and radical right-wing and international subversive organisations, global trade in warfare material, the GLADIO case, political corruption in the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

region, the fire of

La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice beca ...

Theatre in Venice, the trials over deaths from VCM, PVC and

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

Marghera Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera. Etymology The name Marghera is said in popular myth to come ...

, investigations into environmental pollution, disorders caused by

depleted uranium Depleted uranium (DU; also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy or D-38) is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope than natural uranium.: "Depleted uranium possesses only 60% of the radioactivity of natural uranium, hav ...

and radio spectrum pollution. As a Senator, he was member of the following committees: Committee on Elections and Parliamentary Immunity, Committee on the Prosecution of Government Members, Standing Commission on the Justice, Committee of Inquiry into Depleted Uranium and the Committee on Workplace Deaths. In particular, he introduced and promoted bills on the fight against corruption and organized crime, the streamlining of civil and criminal law proceedings, safety and prevention measures for workers exposed to genotoxic, carcinogenic substances such

and VCM, environmental crime, population safety and the protection of crime victims. He taught

Environmental Law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

at the Venice Istituto Universitario di Architettura and the

Università telematica internazionale Uninettuno The UniNettuno University ( it, Università telematica internazionale UniNettuno), often simply abbreviated as "UniNettuno" is a private university based in Rome, Italy which provides distance e-learning courses via a consortium of 43 universities ...

. He is a member of the scientific board of the Venice International Academy of Environmental Sciences (IAES). Casson features in the 2009 documentary '' :de:Plastic Planet'', directed by :de:Werner Boote.

Bibliography

*''Lo stato violato'' (1985 - "The Raped State") *''Servizi segreti e il segreto di stato'' (1992 - "Secret Services and State Secret") *''La fabbrica dei veleni'' (2007 - "The poison factory")

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casson, Felice 1953 births Living people People from Chioggia Politicians of Veneto Democratic Party (Italy) politicians 21st-century Italian politicians Operation Gladio Years of Lead (Italy) 20th-century Italian judges 21st-century Italian judges