Statewatch News Online: Italy: Appeal by police officers who killed Aldrovandi rejected
28 March 2012
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Italy 
Appeal by
police officers who killed Aldrovandi rejected
On 21 June 2012
in Rome, the fourth section of the Corte di Cassazione [Italy's
highest appeal court] rejected the appeal lodged by four police
officers who were convicted and handed a three year and six month
sentence for manslaughter in connection with the killing of an
18-year-old, Federico Aldrovandi, in Ferrara at a around 5 a.m.
in the morning of 25 September 2005.
The first trial was on 6 July 2009, in which they were found
guilty of "excesses" and of acting "imprudently"
with a numerical advantage in the exercise of their duty, using
truncheon blows against several parts of the victim's body, beating
him to floor him and subsequently compressing his thorax as he
was struggling to breathe, causing him to suffocate. They also
failed to assist him when he called out for help. The Bologna
court of appeal confirmed the sentence on 10 June 2011, while
reducing it to six months in line with a general measure (indulto)
that entailed a three-year tariff discount and was approved in
2006 to stem the problem of overcrowding in prisons nationwide.
The incident happened during a police check when Federico was
walking home after a night out in Bologna. Three other officers
are facing charges for the cover-up that ensued, aimed at suggesting
that the youth had died as a result of drug consumption.
Federico's father Lino stated that "now, I have a bit of
peace" after attending the hearing alongside other relatives
of victims of police brutality, including Giuseppe Uva, Michele
Ferrulli and Stefano Cucchi. He added that "I would like
this air of justice that I breathed in these courtrooms to be
granted to the Cucchis, Uvas and Ferrullis and to the many families
that have had to deal with violence by the police, and with a
justice that is very hard to obtain".
Simona Cenni, who works for Prima Difesa, an association that
"defends the human rights of police officers", explained
that "we will appeal before the European Court of Human
Rights".
The fact remains that the police officers who beat a teenager
to death will not go to prison, but they are set to face disciplinary
proceedings. They have remained in service in spite of the Aldrovandi
case, but not in Ferrara.
Sources
Corriere della Sera, 21.6.2012; Estense, 20-21.6.2012; Il Fatto
Quotidiano, 21.6.2012; Il manifesto, 21.6.2012; Repubblica, 21.6.2012.
Blog
dedicated to Federico Aldrovandi
Law no. 241 of 31 July 2006, "Concessione
di indulto", published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale
(Official Journal) no. 176 of 31 July 2006,
Previous Statewatch coverage
Italy: State
offers Aldrovandi family compensation
Italy: Officers
found guilty for teenager's death in Ferrara, July 2009
Italy: Teenager
beaten to death by police in Ferrara?, January 2006
Italy: Police officers investigated over Ferrara death, Statewatch,
vol. 16 no. 1, January-February 2006.
Italy: Manslaughter trial for officers in Aldrovandi death, Statewatch;
vol. 18, no. 1, January-March 2008.
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