An Italian court docket on Thursday sentenced former Atlantia CEO Giovanni Castellucci to 12 years in jail over the lethal 2018 collapse of a motorway bridge within the northwestern port metropolis of Genoa.
Atlantia was the controlling shareholder in motorway operator Autostrade per l’Italia on the time of the catastrophe which killed 43 individuals when their automobiles plunged from the flyover.
Relatives of the victims packed the court docket to hear the result of a case that has turn out to be a seek for accountability for the catastrophe and an emblem of the sluggish tempo of justice in advanced Italian legal proceedings.
Under the Italian authorized system, the primary occasion ruling will be appealed not less than twice.
Castellucci is already in jail, serving a six-year sentence over one other deadly incident in 2013 on a viaduct in southern Italy, and was not in court docket to hear the decision.
Fifty-seven people had been on trial, together with firm executives, engineers and transport ministry officers. The most severe costs embrace a number of manslaughter and legal negligence.
The collapse of the then 51-year-old Morandi bridge throughout a summer season storm on the eve of a nationwide vacation shocked Italy and triggered years of investigations into the administration and upkeep of its ageing infrastructure.
A 50-metre (160-foot) excessive part of the bridge collapsed with as many as 35 automobiles driving on it, sending them plunging onto warehouses and a riverbed beneath.
The catastrophe prompted a dispute between holding firm Atlantia, managed by the Benetton household, and the then authorities that ended with the sale of Atlantia’s controlling stake in Autostrade.
The present head of Autostrade issued an open letter on Wednesday, restating the corporate’s dedication to be certain that such a tragedy is just not repeated.
“I wish to apologize to the victims’ families, to the people of Genoa, and to all Italians for the suffering caused by the tragic Morandi disaster, fully aware that our gesture can never erase their pain,” Autostrade CEO Arrigo Giana wrote.
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Prosecutors argue that years of insufficient upkeep, ignored warning indicators and delayed security work contributed to the collapse, alleging that important work was postponed whereas earnings continued to be generated and distributed.
Defence attorneys reject that principle. They argue that the catastrophe was attributable to an authentic design defect within the bridge’s keep cable quantity 9, the one which failed, and that no upkeep programme might have prevented the tragedy.