It collapsed eight years ago. bridge Morandi in Genoa and claimed 43 lives. Now the former director of the company that manages the highways has been sentenced in the first instance - but those affected look at the verdict with mixed feelings, reports DW.
The judges in Genoa sentenced the first defendant to 12 years in prison. Giovanni Castellucci is the former CEO of Autostrade per l'Italia, which managed the Morandi Bridge in Genoa.
He was accused of knowing about structural defects and delaying work on the pole that eventually collapsed. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 18 years in prison.
The verdict is too lenient?
Giuseppe Rodinho looks at the verdict with mixed feelings. He sees the positive side - that the verdict has finally been passed. But he still believes that the punishment is too light.
Rodinho lived under the Morandi bridge for 40 years. And he was at home when the bridge pier collapsed eight years ago in August. He watched as a large part of the road collapsed and dragged the cars that were traveling on it at the time.
"Something like that cannot be forgotten," says Rodinho.
For days, rescue teams used heavy machinery to search the rubble for survivors. Forty-three people died that day.
After that, for a long time, the remains of the bridge protruded into the air, like wobbly reinforced concrete teeth. When it became clear that it would have to be demolished, Rodinho realized that he would never return to his home.
He and 700 other people had to leave their homes after the bridge collapsed. Although they were able to take the most important things with them, much remained buried under the remains of the bridge.
Four years until the start of the trial
Giuseppe Rodinho says he followed the trial with two main emotions: "sadness and anger". Furious above all because it took so long for the trial to even begin - and it began four years after the disaster. So another four years passed before the first-instance verdict was finally handed down.
A day before the start of the trial, the company Auto-putevi za Italia published a letter of apology. Rodinho did not take it well:
"They should have written it immediately. It's a bit like when the US apologized to the Native Americans for what they did to them."
Total prison terms of almost 200 years
Rodinho says, however, that the trial was important for him and the other victims, because someone finally had to be held accountable.
A total of 57 people have been charged - mostly managers of the company Auto-putevi za Italia, but also employees of the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure. Twenty-five of them were acquitted, while the rest were sentenced to almost 200 years in prison. That total represents half of what the prosecution sought.
Prosecutors accused the Italian highway company of failing to properly maintain the bridge in order to save money and increase profits. The defense argued that the damage to the bridge resulted from hidden, structural defects that could not have been discovered.
The trial also brought to the fore the neglected state of the traffic infrastructure in Italy in recent years, but also the dubious role of the company Auto-putevi za Italia.
This verdict is the first step in the court proceedings. The case is expected to continue in the higher courts.
Source: DW
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