An Italian court in Genoa on Thursday sentenced the former chief executive officer of the country`s main highway operator, Giovanni Castellucci, to 12 years in prison over the devastating 2018 collapse of the Morandi bridge, according to Reuters. The structural catastrophe, which resulted in the tragic deaths of 43 people on August 14, 2018, is considered one of the worst infrastructure failures in modern European history. Dozens of grieving family members, legal counsels, and journalists packed the courtroom as Chief Judge Paolo Lepri read out the long-awaited verdict. The landmark ruling marks a pivotal moment in the long-running Genoa bridge collapse trial verdict, which has stood as a symbol of Italy`s decaying infrastructure and slow justice system.
Castellucci, who was also the head of the parent company Atlantia at the time of the collapse, was convicted on charges of complicity in multiple counts of negligent manslaughter and road safety violations. The former chief executive is already serving a separate six-year prison sentence in connection with a tragic 2013 bus crash that claimed 40 lives, and he was not present in court to hear the new judgment. His defense attorney, Giovanni Paolo Accinni, immediately condemned the decision as a defeat for the truth of what transpired, pledging to continue fighting for his client`s innocence in the higher appellate courts. Prosecutors had originally petitioned the court for a significantly harsher prison sentence of 18 years and six months for Castellucci.
In addition to Castellucci`s sentencing, the court handed down convictions to 31 other defendants, including various former executives, transport ministry officials, and maintenance engineers. Autostrade`s former maintenance director, Michele Donferri Mitelli, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, while Antonino Galata, the former CEO of the SPEA engineering firm, received a sentence of five years and six months. Out of the 57 co-defendants originally accused of manslaughter, endangering public transportation, and forging official documents, 32 were convicted, while 25 were either acquitted or had their lesser charges cleared under the statute of limitations. The combined prison sentences handed down by the judges totaled nearly 200 years.
What remains unclear is how long the victims` families will have to wait for final judicial closure, as Italy`s multi-level criminal justice system allows those convicted to appeal the verdict twice before the sentences are finalized. The 1,182-meter bridge, which was designed by the celebrated architect Riccardo Morandi and opened in 1967, collapsed during a torrential summer rainstorm, sending up to 35 vehicles plunging onto the warehouses and riverbed below. Prosecutors argued that years of systemic maintenance neglect and ignored structural warning signs directly contributed to the collapse. Autostrade and its subsidiary SPEA had previously avoided corporate prosecution by agreeing to pay 30 million euros in financial penalties to the state.
From an Islamic perspective, the preservation of human life is a primary objective of universal justice, and any negligence that compromises public safety is a grave offense (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:155). The representative for the victims` families, Egle Possetti, who lost her sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces in the collapse, expressed quiet relief at the court`s acknowledgment of systemic failures but stressed that the pain of their loss remains irreplaceable. Current Autostrade CEO Arrigo Giana issued a formal public apology to the victims` families and the citizens of Genoa, emphasizing the moral imperative of acknowledging past corporate errors. The legal precedent established by this verdict is expected to drive comprehensive reforms in infrastructure safety monitoring worldwide.
