Six years in prison . This is the sentence for the former CEO of Autostrade per l'Italia, Giovanni Castellucci, for the Avellino massacre of July 28, 2013. That day, a bus fell from the Acqualonga viaduct in the Monteforte Irpino area and 40 people died. The sentence of the Supreme Court came after more than 4 hours of deliberation. The doors of prison are opening for the manager, accused of manslaughter and manslaughter. "He is ready to turn himself in , we are awaiting the prison order", say his lawyers Filippo Dinacci and Paola Severino who define the sentence as "incomprehensible: on the basis of the evidence we have provided, we are convinced that engineer Castellucci is totally uninvolved in the facts and that he has always carefully carried out his duties as CEO".

The judges of the fourth section have substantially rejected the requests of the Attorney General who had requested for the former CEO, also involved in the trial for the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa , a second appeal for the re-evaluation of the sentence for manslaughter and acquittal with the formula "because the fact does not exist" for the manslaughter disaster. The judges also made the sentences for the other managers of the company and the employees of the Tronco become final. Six years for the general manager at the time Riccardo Mollo and for the Aspi employees Massimo Giulio Fornaci and Marco Perna. Five years for the Aspi manager Nicola Spadavecchia and for the Aspi section director Paolo Berti. Three years for Gianluca De Franceschi, manager of Aspi and for the two employees Gianni Marrone and Bruno Gerardi. A sentence of 9 years for the owner of the bus, Gennaro Lametta and a sentence of 4 years for the then employee of the civil motorization of Naples, Antonietta Ceriola.

In his closing statement, the Attorney General stated that "there was a situation of neglect that lasted for many years, with a lack of control over the roadside barriers" and "culpable inertia on the part of those who were supposed to monitor and control". The bus, the prosecution representative said, had a false inspection certificate, which had not been carried out since 2011 , and that the vehicle "did not meet the minimum requirements for circulation. Lametta put the vehicle in terrible conditions on the road, putting the lives of passengers at risk". The case was brought before the supreme judges after the Court of Appeal of Naples, in September 2023, had given six years to Castellucci, who had been acquitted in the first instance.

In the massacre, thirty-eight people died instantly, two in the following days. Ten survived. The investigation led to the indictment of 15 people, 12 of whom were managers and former managers of Autostrade per l'Italia, for manslaughter, manslaughter and other crimes. As for Castellucci and other managers of Aspi, the accusation was essentially that they had violated the rules that guarantee safe highway traffic and that they had not provided for the redevelopment of the entire A16 viaduct with the necessary replacement of the barriers. According to the investigators, a theory that has never changed: if those protective barriers had been up to standard, the bus would not have ended up underneath.

(Online Union)

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