updated to 1 August 2026

All the documented and uncontested facts

This archive keeps three things apart. At the top, what is documented and contested by none of the parties. Then what is the subject of the investigation. At the bottom, the buck-passing between institutions, which is the most fragile part and should be read last.

A note on the yardstick: “documented and uncontested” does not mean “established in court”. No trial has yet begun. It means that the fact appears in the record — service reports, official reconstructions by the local health authority, footage seized by the prosecutor's office, the text of the ministerial guidelines — and that none of the parties involved has denied it.

╔══ DOCUMENTED AND UNCONTESTED ══╗

— Abderrahim Fakir was a LAWFUL immigrant. His lawyer, who was assisting him with the renewal of his residence permit: “He was already perfectly in order”. The refusal of special protection had been suspended by the court. (source: Sky TG24, 21 July)

— He was a BUSINESS OWNER, running a haulage and cleaning company with employees, lawfully trading since at least 2012.

— He was a PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT UNDER THE CARE OF THE SERVICES, followed by a mental health centre since 20 June 2026, with a diagnosis, a confirmed course of treatment and a second appointment set for early August. (source: ANSA, 24 July)

— NO CRIME WAS IN PROGRESS at the time of the intervention. The patrol car does not arrive for a criminal police operation: it arrives because residents report a man in an altered state. Two minutes after arriving, it is the officers themselves who report to the ambulance service “a subject in psychiatric crisis”.

— THERE WERE TWO OFFICERS. A single patrol car, a 28-year-old patrol leader and a 23-year-old assistant. The guidelines of the Department of Public Security of 11 May 2026 state that restraining a subject who offers strong resistance requires COMPLEX TECHNIQUES AND FOUR OFFICERS, with the support of a second patrol car or of the Carabinieri. (source: Interior Ministry guidelines, reported by Sky TG24, Il Post, BolognaToday and Today on 20-21 July)

— CIVILIANS TOOK PART IN THE PHYSICAL RESTRAINT. Four Pilastro residents, at different moments and in different ways; the most visible is a Kosovar man who held Fakir's ankles down, continuing even when Fakir had stopped moving. According to some accounts gathered among residents, it was the officers themselves who asked a member of the public for help. Those same guidelines require instead, during de-escalation, that other people present who may heighten the subject's agitation be MOVED AWAY. (source: il Resto del Carlino, 25 July; Interior Ministry guidelines)

— FAKIR WAS HELD ON THE GROUND IN A PRONE POSITION. The guidelines require restraint on the ground in a SUPINE position, with IMMEDIATE ROTATION ONTO THE SIDE to safeguard breathing, and state that the prone position with compression of the chest must not be prolonged, because of the risks to the cardiac system and the respiratory organs.

— RESUSCITATION BEGAN WITH THE MAN STILL TIED at the wrists and ankles. This is apparent from the footage. The guidelines require restraints to be removed before medical procedures.

— THE AUTOPSY FOUND blood in the lungs and signs of crushing of the respiratory organs. (source: il Resto del Carlino and Sky TG24, 24 July)

╔══ UNDER INVESTIGATION ══╗

Bologna prosecutor's office, working hypothesis of manslaughter, six people entered in the preliminary register under Article 45-bis: the two officers and the four Red Cross volunteers. None is formally under investigation. The open questions are in the entry devoted to them.

THE QUESTION NOBODY HAS YET ASKED PUBLICLY: did the two officers request back-up? The guidelines state that a patrol faced with a person reported as agitated should inform the operations room and request that further units be sent. No public source shows whether this request was made, at what time, and with what outcome. It is the hole at the centre of this case.