Trieste: Unarchived Petitions, Denied Citizenship, and the Phantom Governor

International Communication – Preliminary Briefing

Since 2013, the United Nations has never rejected the petitions concerning the Free Territory of Trieste: the legal question remains on the table.

Between 2012 and 2014, thousands of citizens of the Free Territory of Trieste signed international petitions calling for the restoration of their right to TLT citizenship, the appointment of the Governor as required by the 1947 Peace Treaty, and the protection of the international Free Port.

A voluntary civil movement that collected over 24,000 signatures in a tiny strip of land: proportionally, a global record of participation based on multilateral legal grounds.

✉️ Signatures, travel and silence

In 2012 and 2013, over 14,700 citizens of the Free Territory of Trieste signed a formal petition addressed to:

• UN Secretary-General
• UN Security Council
• UN Trusteeship Council
• UN Human Rights Commission
• ECOSOC

The collection culminated on 3 December 2013, when the signatures were officially handed over in Trieste to Remo Becci, an official of the International Labour Organization (ILO), responsible for their transport and deposit at the Registry Office of the Palais Wilson in Geneva.

 

The petition called for urgent UN action to stop the violations committed by Italy in the Free Territory, to appoint the Governor under the 1947 Peace Treaty, and to restore TLT citizenship, as outlined in Annex VI.

An act rooted in the UN Charter (Chapters XI–XIII), the 1947 Peace Treaty, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

No response. No rejection. Only silence.

In 2015/16, around 900 new individual declarations of citizenship were mailed from Slovenian post offices to ensure traceability beyond prying eyes. Again, no reply.

🚗 Geneva, 2017: Return to Sender

On 30 and 31 March 2017, a delegation consisting of Alessandro Gombač, Franco Zonta, Stefano Ferluga, Arlon Stok and Alessia Goiach physically returned to Geneva:

• 14,000 signatures (part of the original 24,000 delivered in 2013)
• 860 new citizenship declarations
• The 2017 Report on the Trieste issue, also delivered to the US Embassy

The in-depth 2017 Report was authored by Alessia Goiach.

In the afternoon of 31 March, Stefano Ferluga and Arlon Stok met Professor Alfred de Zayas, then UN expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order. Initially skeptical, after reading Ban Ki-Moon’s letter S/2015/809  Section V (pp. 10–11) and the legal opinion by Tom Grant & Guglielmo Verdirame, de Zayas cancelled his appointments to personally escort the two to the Palais Wilson and oversee the formal submission of the documents.

Video: official UN statement (2018): the Free Port of Trieste remains protected under international law.

Meanwhile, Alessandro Gombač, Franco Zonta and Alessia Goiach met with OHCHR commissioner Pol Planas, already known to the delegation. This was not their first meeting: Planas had been previously briefed on the legal status of the Free Territory of Trieste and its Free Port back in November 2014.

However, in 2017, he appeared evasive, distracted, and uninterested in the legal content, preferring instead to comment on the Austro-Hungarian architecture of the Old Port.

Such behavior can only be interpreted as deliberate, if not prearranged.

He was not the only OHCHR interlocutor. On 25 November 2016, Alessandro Gombač and Franco Zonta met Michael Ferguson, another senior official of the UN Human Rights Office.

Ferguson — unlike Planas — proved to be competent, informed, and committed to raising the issue of Triestine citizenship at higher levels.

Yet — strangely — after that meeting, he was removed from his position and became unreachable.

📬 Follow-up: Alfred de Zayas, Paul Oertly, and the Final Proof

Professor Alfred de Zayas’ interest did not end there. He continued to follow the case and, in May 2020, received formal confirmation via email from Paul Oertly, OHCHR official and long-time member of the UN Security Council’s Office of Legal Counsel.

As reported by Italian daily Il Piccolo on 2 April 2017, UN expert Alfred de Zayas publicly stated:
“The Paris Peace Treaty must be respected for the Free Territory of Trieste. Keep fighting to assert your rights. I will do everything possible to ensure they are honored.”

Oertly confirmed:
• that the Trieste dossier had been forwarded to the Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) in New York;
• that the matter had to be assessed under public international law (PIL);
• that Francesco Messineo was the designated contact for renewing engagement with OLA.

De Zayas added in the same correspondence that “these people have a case” and that it was a legally sound matter deserving attention and action, in accordance with the principle of *pacta sunt servanda*.

Furthermore, in an email dated 25 January 2019, Ms. Lidiya Grigoreva, Head of the NGO Liaison Unit at the UN Office in Geneva, officially confirmed that the Treaty Section of the UN Office of Legal Affairs in New York is the competent body to deal with legal matters and documentation submitted by TRIEST NGO.

This confirmation was in response to a formal letter sent on 28 November 2018, endorsed and supported by Prof. Alfred de Zayas. A full copy of this correspondence is included in the attached dossier.

Second to last, but no less important: during the same period, another organization presented the citizenship question of the Free Territory of Trieste to OHCHR, employing the costly support of a Geneva-based law firm specialized in international law. However, despite their legal apparatus, no response was ever received — a silence that further highlights the documentary and diplomatic solidity of the TRIEST NGO initiative.

📌 Conclusion: No One Has Closed This Case

None of the legal questions raised since 2013 have ever been rejected by the United Nations.

The matter is *sub judice*.

There is an open, traceable file, supported by evidence, official meetings, regularly submitted petitions, and internal UN communications.

🧭 To those who claim the issue is closed, we respond with an email. Signed by the UN.

📎 Technical Attachments – Summary of Documentation
TRIEST NGO maintains certified digital copies of all official communications, citizenship declarations, petitions, and UN correspondence from 2013 to the present. These documents are available to international bodies entitled to review the case file.

📦 Annex A – Petitions and Citizenship Declarations of the Free Territory of Trieste (FTT)
– Transmission letter for the 14,720 signatures (Trieste, 3 December 2013)
– Official petition addressed to the UN, the Security Council, and ECOSOC
– 860 individual citizenship declarations (2015–2016, delivered from Slovenia)
– Copy of the 2017 TRIEST NGO report

📦 Annex B – Official UN Interactions
– Meetings with OHCHR official Pol Planas (November 2014, March 2017)
– Meeting with OHCHR official Michael Ferguson (25 November 2016)
– Meeting with UN expert Alfred de Zayas (31 March 2017, Palais Wilson)
– Official email from Paul Oertly (OHCHR) → de Zayas – 26 May 2020

“I spent many years in the Office of the Legal Counsel, so am sensitive to their views…”

📦 Annex C – Interactions with Third-Party States
– Confidential meeting with the U.S. Mission to the United Nations – Route de Pregny 11, Geneva (31 March 2017)
– Documents submitted: report + diplomatic cover letter

📦 Annex D – Formal Recognition of OLA Jurisdiction
– Email from Lidiya Grigoreva (UN Geneva) to Alfred de Zayas, 25 January 2019

“The Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs in New York might be an appropriate UN entity to contact regarding the issues raised…”
– Message transmitted by TRIEST NGO on behalf of Alessandro Gombač, detailing:
• Italy’s violations in the FTT (citizenship, militarization, free port)
• Nine legal questions regarding UN responsibilities and sovereignty
• Formal request for action by the Security Council

📌 Note: The full set of documents is archived and may be made available to competent authorities or legal bodies upon formal request.

– Alessandro Gombač –