GENOA. The former CEO of Aspi Giovanni Castellucci has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the collapse of the Ponte Morandi that occurred in Genoa on August 14, 2018, which caused 43 victims. The sentence was pronounced this afternoon. Castellucci, already convicted for the Avellino massacre, is currently in the Opera prison in Milan. The prosecutors Walter Cotugno and Marco Airoldi, who replaced Massimo Terrile, had requested 18 years and 6 months of imprisonment against him. The conviction comes for the charges, including negligent collapse and multiple vehicular homicide.
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Other convictions
In total, there are 32 convictions in the first instance trial for the collapse of the Ponte Morandi. The total of the sentences is just under 180 years, about half of the prosecutor’s requests, while 26 people were acquitted. After Castellucci’s, the second highest sentence was given to Michele Donferri Mitelli, former head of maintenance at Aspi, sentenced to 11 years. The prosecution had requested a sentence of 15 years and 6 months against him.
Other convictions, as reported by Adnkronos: Maurizio Ceneri 10 years (requested 13 years); Emanuele De Angelis 10 years (requested 13 years); Giampaolo Nebbia 8 years and 8 months (requested 9 years and 6 months); Riccardo Mollo 8 years and 6 months (requested 12 years and 8 months); Fulvio Di Taddeo 8 years (requested 12 years); Mauro Malgarini 7 years (requested 13 years and 6 months); Massimo Meliani 7 years (requested 10 years); Marco Vezil 6 years and 7 months (requested 12 years); Gabriele Camomilla 6 years (requested 14 years); Paolo Berti 5 years and 6 months (requested 12 years and 6 months); Antonino Galatà 5 years and 6 months (requested 7 years); Carlo Casini 5 years (requested 10 years); Mauro Coletta 5 years (requested 10 years); Lanfranco Bernardini 4 years and 6 months (requested 7 years and 6 months); Lucio Ferretti Torricelli 4 years and 6 months (requested 6 years); Stefano Marigliani 4 years and 6 months (requested 6 years); Riccardo Rigacci 4 years and 6 months (requested 6 years and 6 months); Mariano Romagnolo 4 years and 6 months (requested 7 years); Paolo Agnese 4 years and 2 months (requested 7 years); Serena Allemanni 4 years and 2 months (requested 9 years); Claudio Bandini 4 years and 2 months (requested 5 years); Antonio Brencich 4 years and 2 months (requested 8 years); Marita Giordano 4 years and 2 months (requested 6 years); Paolo Strazzullo 4 years and 2 months (requested 5 years and 10 months); Carmine Testa 4 years and 2 months (requested 9 years); Mario Bergamo 1 year, 11 months and 5 days (requested 4 years and 6 months); Salvatore Buonaccorso 1 year, 11 months and 5 days (requested 4 years); Matteo De Santis 1 year, 11 months and 5 days (requested 6 years); Giorgio Fabriani 1 year, 11 months and 5 days (requested 4 years and 6 months); Michele Franzese 1 year, 11 months and 5 days (requested 4 years and 6 months).
Castellucci’s lawyer
“His only fault is being innocent and thus justice is not done because this is a defeat for the truth of the facts, the experts have established that the bridge collapsed due to a construction defect never emerged in 50 years of the bridge’s life. We are sure that the appeal will remedy what we consider a mistake and we will continue to fight this battle of civilization for his innocence. They looked for the culprit but not the fault. Castellucci was convicted without fault.” This was said by Giovanni Castellucci’s lawyer, Giovanni Paolo Accinni, commenting on the first instance sentence.
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The victims’ committee: “Bridge fell because there were responsibilities”
“The structure held fully, so the bridge fell because there were serious responsibilities and the penalties are penalties that tell us about the significance of these behaviors.” Thus the lawyer Raffaele Caruso, lawyer of the Memorial Committee for the Ponte Morandi victims, comments on the first instance sentence just pronounced in court in Genoa. For the lawyer “there was a choice to look in every sector, to distinguish every single position, so a work that was absolutely individualizing of all positions, there is no positional responsibility but there is personal responsibility which is confirmed by the very acquittals that tell us they went to see what each one did and not simply the role.”
“The picture that confirms to us the correctness of the structure is the fact that there are responsibilities in all subjects and in all sectors within the different companies and also in the State. Then there was a choice within these subjects to individualize the analyses which is right to be so,” concluded the lawyer
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