Motorway chief jailed for fatal bridge collapse
A court in Italy has sentenced the former chief executive of Autostrade per l'Italia (Aspi), Italy's largest motorway operator, to 12 years in prison over the 2018 collapse of Genoa's Morandi Bridge.
Dozens of family members of the victims packed the courtroom as Chief Judge Paolo Lepri read the verdicts against 57 defendants, including chief executive Giovanni Castellucci.
Many relatives broke down in tears as the sentences were read.
The disaster was one of Italy's deadliest infrastructure failures, claiming 43 lives and displacing 566 residents.
The Morandi Bridge, also known as the Polcevera viaduct, was designed by engineer Riccardo Morandi and opened in 1967.
Violent storm
It collapsed on 14 August 2018 during a violent storm, sending cars and lorries plunging to the ground.
Prosecutors said the collapse resulted from a strategy by Aspi's top management to cut maintenance costs and boost profits, while the Ministry of Infrastructure failed to carry out adequate oversight.
The defence argued that the collapse was caused by a structural defect in the viaduct that could not have been detected in advance and which led to corrosion.
The trial, which began on 7 July 2022, involved hundreds of witnesses and a vast amount of evidence.
Prosecutors had sought an 18-year-and-six-month sentence for Castellucci.
He is already serving a final six-year prison sentence over the Avellino coach crash, along with the coach owner and several highway managers.
That incident, on July 28 2013, is one of Italy's worst road disasters, killing 40 people and injuring others when the bus careered off the Acqualonga viaduct.
32 convicted
In all, 32 people were convicted yesterday, and handed sentences ranging from one year and 11 months to 12 years.
Others were either found not guilty, or lesser charges had expired under the statute of limitations.
Also convicted were Autostrade’s former head of maintenance, Michele Donferri Mitelli, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
The former chief of the SPEA engineering company, Antonino Galatà, received five years and six months.
Defendants faced charges including negligence resulting in the collapse and manslaughter stemming from failures to maintain the bridge, which was part of a main route linking northern Italy with the French Riviera.