«We must not make the mistake of delegitimizing this sentencewe must not forget the constitutional reasons that underlie the current jurisprudence, we must not forget the penalties provided for the contested crimes, we must be aware that delegitimizing this sentence also means questioning the rules of a democratic state”. He writes like this Egle Possettipresident of the Morandi Bridge Victims’ Remembrance Committee, in the statement after the first instance sentence in the trial for the collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa.
A heartfelt message after the Genoa Court sentenced him to 12 years in prison yesterday Giovanni Castellucciformer CEO of Autostrade per l’Italia and main defendant in the trial. Along with Castelucci, all the former top management of Autostrade per l’Italia and its subsidiary Spea were sentenced. «Nothing can bring our families home, nothing can fill our painsome of us would like to see those guilty of so much pain deprived of their freedom forever, but pain and emotion cannot distract our attention – adds the president -. It is a strong sentence that identifies precise responsibilities, which leads to acquittal where the judges deemed it necessary and which did not comply with the requests of the prosecutor’s office. From today onwards the new battle begins to be able to have this sentence confirmed on appeal and above all to delegitimize any attempt to give extra protection to managers who must be subject to the law like all of us.”
It was August 14, 2018 when the viaduct collapsed on itself killing 43 people. Since then the Committee has not stopped keeping the memory of that dramatic day alive and demanding justice for those who lost their lives. «The ruling is a firm point and an important milestone – the president had already said yesterday, in the heat of the moment – It is a collapse of the smoke screen that has hovered over the truth. Precise responsibilities are established for specific figures. It is not yet the end of the line, but it is a fixed point on imaginative hypotheses such as those which identified coils and lightning as the causes of the collapse. The decision is the result of professionalism and we deeply respect it.”
In the first instance there were 32 convictions for a total of almost 200 years of imprisonment. «This ruling, like the Avellino and Viareggio rulings, impose new ways of approaching prevention which cannot and will not be nullified by protections ad personam. We must be united and strong as citizens on these goals», closes the statement.
