The process for the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa resumes in September, on the 12th. Yesterday the first hearing, interlocutory and lasted a couple of hours, in which they were submitted requests for the appearance of civil parties on which the judges will decide after the summer break. Also in September, the question of the possible exclusion of civilian offenders, that is, those who will have to pay in the event of a conviction, will be addressed.
The hearings have been scheduled until July 19, 2023: they are scheduled for September 12 three a week (some lawyers, especially those from outside Genoa, protested because the commitment is considered too burdensome). The parties talked about 1500 witnesses.
The Morandi bridge collapsed on 14 August 2018: 43 people died in the collapse of the viaduct. 59 the accusedincluding former executives and technicians of Autostrade and the former subsidiary Spea Engineering (the company that took care of maintenance and inspections), current and former managers of the Ministry of Infrastructure (Mims) and officials of the Superintendency.
The charges are those of multiple culpable homicide, road homicide, willful collapse, omission of official acts, attack on transport safety, forgery and willful omission of safety devices in the workplace. According to the indictment, the defendants imagined that the Morandi could collapse, but did nothing to prevent the tragedy. Aspi and Spea have negotiated around 30 million euros (the sum equivalent to the profit from the crime, i.e. the works never carried out which in the hypothesis of the power of attorney would have prevented the collapse) to exit the trial, demonstrating that he had compensated the victims and that he had taken the necessary measures to prevent the event from repeat.
The transfer will begin in September – requested by the public prosecutor Massimo Terrile and authorized by the court of Genoa – of the finds of the viaduct which are still preserved under the bridge, in the area where the memorial for the victims and a technological pole will be built. The finds will be transferred to a shed in Trasta: the costs will be borne by Autostrade per l’Italia, which will also arrange for the leasing of the shed and the guardianship.
According to Egle Possetti, sister of one of the people killed in the collapse of the viaduct and president of the Committee for victims of the collapse of the Morandi bridge, “it is the tip of the iceberg because the problems not only had the Morandi bridge, but all the infrastructures of the country, which must be properly controlled. We think that with everything that has emerged in these 4 years with the in-depth investigation of the Guardia di Finanza and the investigating bodies, with the accurate analyzes of the Prosecutor’s Office, as important elements emerged in some way the defense strategy changed . The appraisal of independent experts, commissioned by the judge, identifies the causes of the collapse in the scarcity if not the absence of maintenance ».
Giovanni Accinni, the lawyer of the former CEO of Aspi Giovanni Castellucci, is certain that «it will emerge that the bridge collapsed due to a constructive defect. This is the reason why 43 people died in a frightening and absurd way. Engineer Castellucci has no criminal responsibility with respect to what has been accused of him. Respect for those who have died in such an absurd way is a total sharing. I would like to point out that even the innocent, if he were convicted, would in turn become a victim ”.
Source: Vanity Fair
