21 June 2008

The Spartacus Case – Appeal Court Decision

Back on the 4th June I said on this blog that I would be following the Spartacus court case very closely, and that I would keep you informed as regards the proceedings. Here is a summary sent in by our man on the spot in Naples, Daniele Martinelli.
"Thursday 19 June 2008. Greetings from Daniele Martinelli. I find myself standing outside the Poggioreale prison in Naples, waiting to hear the appeal court decision concerning the members of the Casalesi clan. Around thirty members all in all, with a business turnover of around 30 billion Euro and branches worldwide.
There is some tension apparent in those standing outside the prison due to a fear of some sort of sensational act after the threats made against journalists in the courtroom for Monday’s hearing by Sandokan, alias Francesco Schiavone, who said that he did not want to appear on camera. Schiavone had already been sentenced by the court to life imprisonment. Therefore, no parking around the perimeter of the prison, carefully selected police snipers lying in wait within the surrounding buildings, armed guards on the street corners around the prison and even an inspection of the sewers that fortunately failed to turn up any explosive devices. Meanwhile, we of the press are led into the bunker-style courtroom to await the entrance of the appeal court judges, who eventually came in at midday.
As I said before, there are a total of around thirty members of the camorra, amongst which are the historical clan leaders, accused of no less than 16 murders committed between 1988 and 1991 in the lagro aversano area. The initial decision handed down by the court in September 2005 saw 21 life sentences being handed out. The Public Prosecutor, Francesco Iacone, represented the prosecution in these proceedings. In amongst the crowd we spot Roberto Saviano, hidden behind a veritable wall of policemen. He is the author of Gomorra, the book that mentioned names and surnames and turned the spotlight of the entrepreneurial camorra of Casal di Principe. As a result of having written the book, Saviano is now under armed guard and one cannot even get near him for an interview. Inside the bunker-style courtroom, the defence attorneys representing a number of the accused that are currently locked up in the prisons at Aquila and Alessandria are following the proceedings via teleconferencing.
Now let’s hear the reading of the sentence by the Chief Judge of the First section of the Naples Court of Appeal, Raimondo Romeres:
“Life sentence with two years of solitary confinement for Bidognetti Francesco, Caterino Giuseppe, Iovine Antoni, Schiavone Francesco of '54, Schiavone Francesco of '53, Schiavone Walter and Zagaria Vincenzo. Life sentence with one year and six months of solitary confinement for Alessandro Cipriano and Diana Raffaele. Life sentence with three months of solitary confinement for Martinelli Enrico and Zara Alfredo. Life sentence for Caterino Marco, Ian Giuseppe, Diana Giuseppe, Tanaro Sebastiano, Canosa Luigi and Zagaria Michele.”

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Justice