Italian court finds 32 defendants guilty over Genoa bridge collapse

An Italian court sentenced 32 defendants over the 2018 collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, which killed 43 people and was one of Italy's worst infrastructure disasters.

Giovanni Castellucci, the former chief executive of motorway operator Autostrade, was found guilty of vehicular homicide and negligence related to the collapse. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Castellucci had been accused of postponing key maintenance work. He is already serving time for his responsibility in a 2013 accident in which a bus crashed through viaduct barriers, killing 40 people.

The Morandi Bridge, part of a major highway linking France and Italy, gave way in heavy rain on August 14, 2018. Relatives of people who died in the collapse were in the courtroom for the ruling.

Michele Matti Altadonna, whose brother was among the victims, said there were now people found guilty over the deaths of relatives. He said families would continue the case through to the Supreme Court if needed. Legal teams for some defendants, including Castellucci, said they would appeal.

Under Italian law, judges must publish the reasoning for their decision within six months. The investigation found that in the 51 years between the bridge's inauguration in 1967 and its collapse, not even minimal maintenance had been carried out to reinforce the stays of pillar number nine. Work had been carried out on pillars 10 and 11, and work had been planned for pillar nine, which collapsed during morning traffic.

Raffaele Caruso, a lawyer for the victims, said the bridge did not collapse by chance and said the disaster could have been avoided.

Most of the defendants were executives and technicians from Autostrade per l'Italia, which runs almost half of Italy's motorway network, and Spea, the engineering company in charge of maintenance. The defendants also included Antonino Galata, the former head of Spea, and officials from the infrastructure ministry.

Autostrade maintenance executive Michele Mitelli was sentenced to 11 years. Paolo Berti, the group's number two, was sentenced to five years and six months.

Italy's deputy transport secretary, Edoardo Rixi, wrote on social media that the ruling was an important step toward truth and justice. He said the collapse was not fate, but the result of serious errors and omissions by people who had a duty to ensure safety.

The defence argued that the bridge had a hidden construction defect, involving corrosion of its cables, and that this caused the collapse rather than a lack of maintenance. Lawyers for Castellucci said the court wrongly relied on a theory that equated liability with hierarchical position. They said the former chief executive had taken every initiative considered necessary for infrastructure safety and had relied on leading engineering specialists.

Autostrade and Spea reached an out-of-court settlement with prosecutors that provides for a payment of 29 million euros, or about $30 million, to the state. At the time of the collapse, Autostrade belonged to the Atlantia group, controlled by the Benetton family. After public anger over the disaster, the family later gave up its stake to the state.