Disabled and "systematically" abused and tortured, in the wiretapping shock the screams of patients.

Home for the disabled "lager" in Castelbuono, in the Palermo area. The military of the Guardia di Finanza carried out a precautionary custody order against 35 people accused, in various capacities, of torture, ill-treatment, kidnapping, corruption, aggravated fraud for obtaining public funds, embezzlement and fraud. The seizure of the nursing home and financial assets for over € 6.7 million has also been ordered.

The "Sister Rosina la Grua" non-profit organization manages rehabilitation services for 23 patients with severe disabilities under a "continuous cycle" public agreement. Ten suspects were taken to prison, seven were subjected to house arrest, five were subjected to the obligation to stay in the municipality of residence and thirteen are recipients of the interdicting measure of the prohibition on exercising professional activities for one year.

I DUE FILONI - The first line of investigation concerns the administrator and the members of the non-profit organization who, hiding the commercial nature of the entity's activity and thanks to the use of false documentation, would have managed to gain accreditation with the Sicilian Region and make an agreement with the ASP of Palermo, obtaining, in the last five years, public money of 6.2 million. A part of the money, about 470 thousand euros, instead of being used for the needs of patients or reinvested in the adaptation of the site, which would have serious shortcomings, was distracted and used for private purposes such as the settlement of undue payments, purchase of cars, payment for travel and hotel stays, purchase of food and wine products, jewelery and gifts. An official of the Palermo ASP was also accused of corruption, who did not carry out the necessary checks in exchange for hiring his son and daughter-in-law.

The second trend revolves around the mistreatment and violence suffered in recent years by the 23 patients of the structure. For the investigating judge, these are very serious conducts, so much so that the offenses are torture, mistreatment and kidnapping. According to the investigators, all the medical and paramedical personnel in service at the non-profit organization, with the complacency of the property, subjected patients to physical and psychological abuse that caused them serious suffering and humiliation. The staff of the facility, who looked after guests with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities, systematically resorted to punishments such as fasting, or beating, jerking, kicking, slapping, offenses. In several cases, patients were locked up in a room of a few square meters called "relaxation", both during the day and at night, completely empty and without a toilet.

And there the victims remained prisoners for several hours, in the dark and without assistance, begging to go out or to have water and food, forced to carry out their physiological needs on the floor.

"The guests of the center are subjected to a lifestyle that is not excessive to define contrary to the principle of humanity" and "they daily serve the penalty of their disability with their being subjected to systematic torture that aggravate their mental condition and devastate their body ", wrote the investigating judge.

Patients were administered drug therapies in massive doses not justified by health reasons, but only by the will of the operators to keep them sedated, thus reducing their commitment.

INTERCEPTIONS - What emerges from the interceptions is dramatic. In the "relaxation" room they were carried by weight, locked inside and kicked and punched. Then they were offended: "Fagot", shouted an operator and after yet another kick he closed the door. "You have to throw the poison out of the heart," said another janitor of the facility.

Some operators, not knowing they were being intercepted, commented calling the place a "Nazi concentration camp". Patients shouted: "Let me out, we said five minutes, the pacts are maintained."

"I'm 99% sure they raise their hands to the boys, as long as there are no cameras that's what ... We don't take it off and you see it's a criminal offense - said a woman on the phone -. The boys were dressed like gypsies, since they did not wash them, since the food was disgusting, since the structure was not clean ".

And another: “Do you have an insane asylum in mind? Same, identical, we just miss it, I told him to tie them to the beds and then we're all set, we're ready for D'Urso. There are things that are objective. The financial statements have never been presented, in the accounts there is a madhouse, the structure is not adequate and is not up to standard. There, if they survive or if they die, nobody cares about anything ".

(Unioneonline / L)

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