Four years in prison. This is the penalty inflicted, with an abbreviated procedure, by the GUP Dario De Luca of the Reggio Emilia court, to Claudio Foti, the psychotherapist owner of the "Hansel & Gretel" Turin clinic accused for the illicit affairs of Bibbiano and Val d'Enza .
The prosecutor had asked for a six-year sentence.
Foti was accused of abuse of office and very serious injuries, a crime hypothesis, the latter, formulated by the Prosecutor for the alleged psychic alteration of a patient.
However, the judge acquitted Foti of the charge of procedural fraud "because the fact does not constitute a crime". On the other hand, the social worker Beatrice Benati, the only other accused to have chosen the shortened procedure, was acquitted in full, "because the fact does not exist".
The judge also sentenced the psychotherapist to pay damages to the civil parties, including Unione Val d'Enza, Ausl di Reggio Emilia, the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Ministry of Justice and the Gens Nova association, as well as the parents of four minors.
Finally, the mayor of Bibbiano Andrea Carletti was indicted for abuse of office, but acquitted of the false accusations.
In practice, the process will have to verify whether any administrative illegitimacy has been committed in the awarding of the contract concerning the therapeutic service for the care of minors by the Union of Municipalities. "His position - however, the lawyer Giovanni Tarquini comments - has been further lightened".
(Unioneonline / lf)
