One year and eight months for the former prefect of breaking latest news, Francesco Provolo, one year and four months to his former chief of staff, Leonardo Bianco; the involvement of the technician of the Municipality of Farindola, Enrico Colangeli, to whom the judge imposed two years and eight months. All three were acquitted at first instance. These are the new elements of the appeal sentence, pronounced yesterday in L’Aquila behind closed doors after a deliberation lasting about five hours, on the tragedy of the Rigopiano resort, canceled by an avalanche on 18 January 2017, the day of earthquakes. earthquake and tremendous snowfall, killing 29 people, with 11 miraculously escaping.
For the rest, the verdict of the breaking latest news court is confirmed. And therefore the sentences for the mayor of Farindola Ilario Lacchetta (2 years and 8 months) and for the officials of the road service of the Province of breaking latest news, Paolo D’Incecco and Mauro Di Blasio, 3 years and 4 months each “stand”. And even those, marginal ones, for Bruno Di Tommaso, the former manager of the resort and Giuseppe Gatto: the charge of forgery in a technical report was prescribed for both, the sentence was reduced from six months to five months and ten days . The 22 acquittals confirmed.
THE SCENERY
The anger of the family members, which resulted in the tensions of last February 23rd within the breaking latest news court, left room for disappointment with a verdict, signed by the Panel chaired by Aldo Manfredi, which keeps the scenario of judicial responsibility for the catastrophes almost unchanged, keeping out all the political levels and the management of the Region who for over twenty years have been involved in the drafting of the avalanche danger map. The involvement of the former prefect Provolo is certainly the element with the greatest media impact: the conviction concerns the crimes of refusal of official documents and ideological falsity in a public document for the note signed on 17 January 2017 with which, differently from the reality of the facts , had communicated to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of the Interior the activation of the Prefecture’s operations room and the Rescue Coordination Centre, which only occurred on 18 January at 1pm. The President of the Court, Manfredi, clarified, for Provolo, that in any case “there is no discernible causal link” between the offending conduct and the tragedy.
Thesis also confirmed by the lawyer, Gian Domenico Caiazza: «Even for the judges of Appeal, the prefect has no responsibility either for the tragic death or serious injuries to the guests, nor for the infamous accusation of misleading the subsequent investigations. Provolo was held responsible for facts that were completely irrelevant to the tragedy.” Leonardo Bianco’s sentence of one year and 4 months should also be read in this context, this time for the communication of 16 January 2017 with which the activation of the provincial Civil Protection operations room and the Rescue Coordination Center had been falsely certified. The other new element concerns the position of the head of the Technical Office of the Municipality of Farindola, Enrico Colangeli, who was inflicted 2 years and 8 months for multiple manslaughter and multiple negligent injuries, in “culpable cooperation” with the mayor Lacchetta. To understand the scenarios that are opening up, we will have to wait for the reasons for the sentence which will be filed on May 10th.
THE AVALANCHES
The contested charge puts a series of conduct in the crosshairs, from the failure to convene the municipal avalanche commission to the technical and urban planning approval for the expansion of the resort with the wellness center in an area historically the scene of avalanches, up to the failure to order eviction of the structure due to the severe bad weather situation. For this last circumstance, in particular, Colangeli did nothing to ensure that the mayor issued the necessary measures. As mentioned, the other convictions remain standing: the mayor Lacchetta as the local civil protection authority, «the only one aware of the risk of avalanches and the heavy snowfall in the area» and the managers of the provincial road service, Paolo D’Incecco and Mauro Di Blasio, for the failure to clear the white blanket on the road that connects Farindola to Rigopiano. Both, however, had their temporary ban from holding public office revoked. What remains imprinted is the phone call in which the hotel manager’s request was ignored, asking for a snowplow to clear the road: “He mustn’t break it, tell him to stay calm.” The judge also established the payment of immediately enforceable provisional amounts of over 1.5 million euros. The sentence confirms the structure of the first degree verdict which demolished the most serious hypothesis of the negligent disaster and identified responsibility for the enormous death toll at the Municipality and Province levels. The trial will land in the Supreme Court, with the families of the victims already announcing a fight.
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