Former Autostrade per l’Italia chief Giovanni Castellucci has been sentenced to 12 years in prison over the deadly collapse of Genoa’s Morandi Bridge, one of Italy’s worst infrastructure disasters in recent history.
The verdict was delivered by a court in Genoa, nearly eight years after the bridge gave way during a heavy rainstorm in August 2018. The collapse claimed the lives of 43 people as vehicles and trucks plunged from the elevated motorway onto the ground below.
Although prosecutors had sought a significantly longer prison sentence, the court imposed a 12-year jail term on Castellucci, who was the former head of Italy’s largest motorway operator.
Castellucci was among 57 defendants tried in connection with the disaster. Another senior motorway executive, Michele Donferri Mitelli, received an 11-year prison sentence for his role in the case.
The former motorway executive is already serving a separate six-year prison sentence linked to a fatal road accident that occurred in 2013.
Relatives of the victims welcomed the court’s decision. Emmanuel Diaz, who lost his brother in the tragedy, said he was satisfied with the verdict, while Egle Possetti, whose sister and her family were among those killed, described Castellucci’s sentence as appropriate.
The Morandi Bridge collapse shocked Italy and raised serious concerns about infrastructure maintenance, road safety and oversight of the country’s motorway network. The tragedy led to widespread reforms and increased scrutiny of the management of critical public infrastructure.
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