Santa Maria Capua Vetere – A judicial twist threatens to derail the final stages of the mega-trial into the abuses that occurred in the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison. Just months before the possible conclusion of a three-year trial, the presiding judge, Roberto Donatiello, has been transferred and his extension to conclude the trial has not been granted.
The reaction of the local Criminal Chamber was immediate and very harsh.
Attorney Alberto Martucci, president of the Sammarinese criminal lawyers, has announced a formal petition addressed directly to the president of the Naples Court of Appeal, Maria Rosaria Covelli. The objective is clear: to obtain the immediate revocation of the order.
At the same time, to give strength to the protest, the lawyers called a strike for November 24, the date of the next hearing in the trial.
An "orphan" process
The case is extremely delicate.
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Judge Donatiello, who presided over the entire complex trial in the prison's bunker courtroom, has already taken office at the Naples Court of Appeal. A new president, Dr. Claudia Picciotti, has been appointed in his place.
"Impossible to study the documents"
And it is precisely this shift in the process, so soon after the conclusion, that has triggered the lawyers' reaction. The concern, shared by the defense attorneys for the 105 defendants, is palpable.
As the Criminal Chamber emphasized, the decision was made "just a few months before the end of the trial." The real fear is that the new president, Picciotti, "obviously doesn't know how the trial is progressing" and, above all, "wouldn't have the time to study the trial documents." This is a massive case file, the product of three years of hearings, testimonies, and expert reports.
The petition to President Covelli, Martucci explains, also serves to "understand the reasons" that led to the revocation of the temporary application granted to Donatiello over a year ago, precisely to ensure the continuity of this trial. The request is simple: that the Court of Appeal reconsider and that Judge Donatiello be allowed to return to his post to complete the trial.
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