Another postponement due to Covid for the trial for the Solfatara massacre: the hearing for the prosecutors' closing statement is postponed to October 16. Then the other two hearings reserved for the defense will also have to be scheduled.
The trial for the Solfatara disaster that cost the lives of the Venetian Carrer family, assisted by Studio3A, has been postponed again, this time directly to autumn, again due to coronavirus: the long-awaited sentence, therefore, will now arrive towards the end of the year. The important hearing, already scheduled for March 4, before the judge of the Neapolitan Court, eighth criminal section, Dr. Egle Pilla, in which the prosecution of Naples was expected to deliver its closing argument with the request for sentences, had already been postponed for the first time to March 18 due to the abstention from hearings until March 11 decided by the local Bar Association due to the health emergency. Subsequently, with the blocking of the courts following the increasingly restrictive measures introduced by the Government to stem the spread of the virus, a new postponement was necessary and the hearing was postponed to June 12. But during the week the parties were notified of a further postponement, to October 16, starting at 9 am, also due to the fact that, with many parties involved, it would be difficult to guarantee the current social distancing rules in the courtroom.
Considering that the two hearings for the discussion of the defense, which before the pandemic had been set for March 26 and April 8, will also have to be re-scheduled, if the work schedule is respected, and the need for further investigative activities is not identified, the verdict will be pronounced in late autumn.
As is known, the leaders of the "Solfatara Volcano srl”, the company that manages the naturalistic site of Pozzuoli (since closed) where on 12 September 2017 the Venetian couple Massimiliano Carrer and Tiziana Zaramella and their little son Lorenzo lost their lives during a tourist visit, swallowed up one after the other by a sinkhole that opened up under their feet and suffocated by gases from the subsoil. Only the youngest son of the Carrers survived, who witnessed the tragedy helplessly and now lives with his aunt. The relatives of the victims, through the area manager Riccardo Vizzi, have entrusted themselves to Studio3A-Valore SpA, a company specialized at a national level in compensation for damages and the protection of citizens' rights, and have already been compensated in civil proceedings, but now they are also awaiting justice on the criminal front, where they are assisted by the lawyers Vincenzo Cortellessa, of the Naples Bar, and Alberto Berardi, of the Padua Bar, again in collaboration with Studio3A.
For this immense tragedy, the Public Prosecutors in charge of the related criminal proceedings, Dr. Anna Frasca and Dr. Giuliana Giuliano, investigated, requested and obtained the indictment of Giorgio Angarano, 72 years old from Pozzuoli, legal representative of the “Solfatara Volcano srl”, and for six partners: Maria Angarano, 74 years old from Pozzuoli, Maria Di Salvo, 70 years old, from Pozzuoli, the namesake Maria Di Salvo, 41 years old, from Naples, Annarita Letizia, 71 years old, from Pozzuoli, and Francesco Di Salvo, 44 years old, from Naples. Also on trial is the company itself in the person of its legal representative.
The seven defendants are charged with very serious crimes that carry several years of imprisonment: hence the choice of the abbreviated trial that will give them the right to a reduction of one third of the sentence. First of all, those of manslaughter in competition (articles 113 and 589 paragraph 1 of the criminal code), with the aggravating circumstance of having been committed in violation of the rules for the prevention of accidents at work (article 589 paragraph 2) and to the detriment of more than one person (article 589, paragraph 4), and also of manslaughter disaster and of manslaughter crimes of damage, always in cooperation with each other (articles 113, 434 and 449 of the criminal code). They are accused of having caused the death of the three tourists "through negligence, imprudence and incompetence in having managed the volcanic site", classified by the Major Risks Commission as "in the red zone", "in the absence of any suitable precaution to ensure that the tourist-receptive activity was carried out in such a way as to guarantee the safety of the employees and third-party visitors".
Article published on 6 June 2020 - 09:48
