Morandi Bridge: First ruling today after 284 hearings

The 284th hearing, scheduled for today, Thursday, July 16, will mark the first verdict in the trial for the collapse of the Morandi Bridge, the tragic event that took the lives of 43 people on August 14, 2018. The hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m. in the main hall of the Genoa courthouse, where the initial phases of the trial were held before being moved to the tent structure set up at the entrance to the courthouse during the pandemic, which remained the venue until the hearing on June 29. Around thirty newspapers, television stations, and press agencies are expected to attend, with 21 accredited broadcasters from various European countries.  

According to leaks on the eve of the hearing, the deliberation is expected to last at least six hours. At the end, the panel presided over by Paolo Lepri and composed of judges Ferdinando Baldini and Fulvio Polidori will rule on the positions of the 58 defendants, who face various charges on 112 charges, including multiple manslaughter and negligent collapse. The principal defendant is the former CEO of Autostrade per l'Italia, Giovanni Castellucci, for whom prosecutors Walter Cotugno and Marco Airoldi—who replaced Massimo Terrile, who had since retired and recently passed away—have requested a sentence of 18 years and six months in prison. Castellucci is being held in Opera prison, where he is serving a final six-year sentence for the Avellino bus massacre.  

The defendants are represented by 67 lawyers, while the plaintiffs are represented by 33 lawyers. In total, the prosecutor's office has requested sentences of approximately 400 years in prison. After Castellucci, the highest sentence requested is 15 years and 6 months for Michele Donferri Mitelli, former head of maintenance at ASPI, followed by 14 years for Gabriele Camomilla, central director of maintenance. Mauro Malgarini has been asked for 13 years and 6 months, while Emanuele De Angelis and Maurizio Ceneri face 13 years each. The requests for sentences continue with Riccardo Mollo (12 years and 8 months), Paolo Berti (12 years and 6 months), Fulvio Di Taddeo and Marco Vezil (12 years each), Mauro Coletta, Carlo Casini and Massimo Meliani (10 years each), Giampaolo Nebbia (9 years and 6 months), Carmine Testa (9 years), Antonio Brencich (8 years), Lanfranco Bernardini, Pierluigi Ceseri and Franco Rapino (7 years and 6 months each), as well as Paolo Agnese, Mariano Romagnolo, Antonino Galatà and Alberto Ascenzi (7 years each).  

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For the other defendants, the prosecutor's office has requested six years and nine months for Luca Frazzica; six years and six months for Fabio Sanetti, Marco Trimboli, Riccardo Rigacci, Agostino Chisari, Nicola Spadavecchia, Alessandro Melegari, Igino Lai, Antonino Valenti, Michele Franzese, and Mario Bergamo; six years for Stefano Marigliani, Marita Giordano, Lucio Ferretti Torricelli, and Matteo De Santis; five years and ten months for Paolo Strazzullo; five years for Michele Santopolo and Claudio Bandini; between four years and four years and six months for Giorgio Fabriani, Roberto Ferrazza, and Salvatore Buonaccorso; three years and nine months for Giovanni Proietti; three years and six months for Alessandro Natali and Ugo Sartini; three years for Federico Zanzarsi, Vincenzo Cinelli, Bruno Santoro, Mario Servetto, Giuseppe Sisca, Michele Renzi, and Donato Dino Giuseppe Maselli. The lowest sentence requested was for Massimo Ruggeri, who was sentenced to 2 years, 4 months, and 20 days.  

The Morandi Bridge collapse trial is one of the largest in Italy in terms of the number of defendants and plaintiffs. Currently, there are 168 plaintiffs, down from the initial 214 after 46 parties withdrew. During the preliminary hearing, 658 individuals and entities requested to appear. During the 33 preliminary hearings, 560 witnesses were called: 282 were actually heard, while 278 others were not heard.  

Twelve defendants were examined and 21 spontaneous statements were taken. Four experts participated in the courtroom. The trial documents comprise 24.213 transcribed pages, 10.431 pages of minutes, 332 paper folders, 352 electronic media, and over 12 terabytes of documentation, including photographs and videos. The documentation submitted by the prosecution is also impressive: two briefs presented during the preliminary hearing totaling 2.380 pages, seven briefs during the trial (one introductory, five interlocutory, and one concluding), totaling over 5.000 pages, as well as 10 written notes during the closing arguments and approximately 2.000 slides. 

(Adnkronos)