An Italian court on Thursday convicted the former CEO of Italy's main highway operator and 31 others in the 2018 Genoa highway bridge collapse that sent dozens of vehicles plunging to the ground and killed 43 people, a disaster that exposed serious lapses in the maintenance of Italian infrastructure. Dozens of family members of the victims packed the courtroom as Chief Judge Paolo Lepri read the verdicts against 57 defendants, including former executives and officials. Many relatives broke down in tears as the sentences were read, the AP reports.
- The collapse was one of the worst tragedies in recent Italian history, the Guardian reports. Witnesses described "apocalyptic scenes" as a 650-foot section of the 51-year-old bridge collapsed during a storm.
- A representative for the families of the victims, Egle Possetti, expressed satisfaction with the verdicts, saying they showed "there were serious failures in management, and 43 people paid with their lives."
The former chief executive of highway operator Autostrade per l'Italia, Giovanni Castellucci, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down after four hours of deliberation in the trial that spanned four years. Castellucci's lawyers said they would appeal, noting in a statement that as CEO, their client had relied on Italy's leading engineers and suggesting that he had been scapegoated. "The suffering caused by the Genoa tragedy is immense and deserves respect. But the gravity of the event requires justice to remain based on individual responsibility, not the search for a scapegoat," they said in a statement.
- Also convicted were Autostrade's former head of maintenance, Michele Donferri Mitelli, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison. The former CEO of the SPEA engineering company, Antonino Galatà, received five years and six months. The most serious charges included negligence resulting in the collapse, aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide stemming from failures to properly monitor and maintain the bridge, which was part of a main route linking northern Italy with the French Riviera.
- Prosecutors said the highway operator ignored warning signs and postponed essential maintenance while continuing to make a profit. Defense lawyers argued that the collapse was caused by a design flaw and it would not have been prevented by maintenance.
- In a summary accompanying the verdict, the court said the convictions were based on findings that identified a system of defects affecting one of the bridge's stay cables and concluded that the collapse was "foreseeable and preventable."
- In all, 32 people were convicted and handed sentences ranging from 1 year and 11 months to 12 years. The rest were either found not guilty, or lesser charges had expired under the statute of limitations.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
