The first degree trial of Filippo Turetta, 22, for the murder of his girlfriend Giulia Cecchettin (2001-2023) ended with a life sentence with perpetual disqualification from holding public office. The Venice Assize Court recognized the aggravating circumstances necessary to pronounce a life sentence of premeditationdel kidnapping and of theconcealment of a corpse, not those from the cruelty and gods persecutory acts, that they would not have changed the substance of the sentence actually applied and that corresponds to what was requested by the public prosecutor, whose conclusions the Court evidently accepted.
While the defense had aimed to ask for the exclusion of all the aggravating circumstances and the recognition of the generic mitigating circumstances at the minimum sentence, whereas the Code establishes a minimum sanction of no less than 21 years for simple voluntary homicide, which, however, the aggravating circumstances can lead to life imprisonment, defined by the defender during the speech: «sorry inhumane and degrading».
In this regard it should be remembered that as a result of the reforms of 1962 and 1986, life imprisonment in Italy has lost the effective connotation of the perpetual sentence provided for by the Rocco Code of 1930In fact, for some time now, even the so-called end of sentence has never currently contemplated the possibility of access to semi-liberty starting from 20 years served and conditional release starting from 26, all with a view to not betraying the need to aim for the re-education of the convicted person. and the characteristics of the punishment provided for in Article 27 of the Constitution. In the same logic, the law also allows those sentenced to life imprisonment a progressive approach to resocialization through benefits such as permits and external work, «in relation», to put it with Emilio Dolcini, one of the most eminent criminal lawyers, «to the progress made in a re-educational process undertaken during the execution of the sentence”. Even the life imprisonment sentence (applicable to violent crimes in contexts of organized crime, terrorism and a few other cases in the absence of collaboration), which in any case does not concern the case of Turetta, has recently mitigated the rigidity of the automatisms that prevented access to any form of benefit without case-by-case evaluation.
«We have all lost as a society», was the immediate comment of Gino Cecchettin, Giulia’s father, «no one will give Giulia back to me, I am neither more relieved nor sadder than yesterday. It is clear that justice has been done, but we should do more as human beings. Today we are here for a legal process, this is not the place to honor Giulia.”
And to those who asked him if he would have expected an apology from the accused in the courtroom, he replied dryly, according to what was reported by the agencies: «I didn’t expect an apology, I don’t expect an apology, my path is different. I have lost everything, so I will continue with my path. Today was a necessary step to respect those laws that we have given ourselves as a civil society. This stage has been reached and now we move forward trying not to find ourselves here again with another father, other journalists and another Giulia. I think that gender violence cannot be fought with punishment, but with prevention. As a human being I feel defeated, as a father nothing has changed.” The reasons for the sentence will give an account of the path followed by the judges within 90 days.
