Former Italian Motorway Chief Sentenced to 12 Years Over Genoa Bridge Collapse

An Italian court on Thursday sentenced Giovanni Castellucci, the former chief executive of motorway operator Autostrade per l'Italia, to 12 years in prison for his role in the 2018 collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, which killed 43 people.

Castellucci was convicted of complicity in multiple counts of manslaughter through negligence, according to The Guardian. The South China Morning Post reported that he was found guilty of vehicle homicide and negligence related to the collapse.

The verdict, delivered in a hushed courtroom packed with about 400 relatives of the victims, lawyers, journalists and members of the public, marks the highest sentence in the case, as reported by The Guardian.

Castellucci was one of 57 defendants in the trial over the collapse of the 51-year-old bridge, which gave way during a summer storm on August 14, 2018, sending a 50-metre section of the bridge and vehicles plunging onto warehouses and a riverbed below.

The prosecution had requested a total of more than 400 years in jail for all defendants, including 18 years for Castellucci, according to the South China Morning Post.

In all, 32 people were convicted and handed sentences ranging from one year and 11 months to 12 years, The Guardian reported. Others were either found not guilty, or lesser charges had expired under the statute of limitations.

Castellucci's lawyers said he would appeal, asserting that as CEO their client had relied on Italy's leading engineers. They called the verdict "a defeat for the truth," The Guardian reported.

All of the defendants had denied wrongdoing, according to The Guardian.

Victims' Families React

Relatives of the victims, who had waited nearly eight years for the verdict, expressed a mixture of emotions.

Egle Possetti, a spokesperson for the victims who lost her sister, brother-in-law and her sister's two children in the tragedy, told Reuters, "We need to better understand the ruling; there are a large number of defendants involved."

In an interview with the BBC ahead of the verdict, Possetti said she felt "anxious, worried, very emotional," adding, "After so many years, so many hearings, we may be able to see some light. It would be so important for us to know if someone's been held accountable."

She also noted that lawyers had previously told the families that "what happened was no-one's fault, that it was just an accident," but hoped the decision could be "symbolically so important" and provide "some sort of peace and a sense of justice."

On the eve of the verdict, Autostrade per l'Italia issued its first apology over the disaster, in an open letter from chief executive Arrigo Giana published in two Italian newspapers, as reported by the BBC. Giana wrote that he had long wondered why the company never apologised at the time, calling it a "further, incomprehensible wound" for a community already in shock.

A new bridge designed by Renzo Piano opened in 2020, according to multiple reports.

Trial and Context

The trial became both a search for accountability over one of Italy's worst infrastructure disasters and a test of the country's notoriously slow justice system, The Guardian reported.

The South China Morning Post noted that the charges included manslaughter, endangering transport safety and falsifying official documents.

Families of the victims have been seeking accountability and justice, with many hoping the verdict would clearly pin down responsibility.