The Marini trial against anarchists in Italy, which has been going on for several years (the investigation beginning nearly ten years ago), provides a concrete example of this process. Even though the specific aspects of the legal framework the prosecutor, Marini, is using and the specific functioning of the judicial system in Italy are not precisely the same as those we deal with here in the US, there is a great deal we can learn about the general repressive functioning of the state from these events.

• Introduction