The right definition for the short trial, already approved by the Senate, on
January 20th, and now under discussion in the House, was given by Antonio Ingroia, deputy prosecutor of Palermo, in an interview with the journal l'Unità where he called it a "law of quick death for trials".
Justice will no longer bring the calm to
those who have suffered damage, but simply will finish to destroy the already devastated judicial machinery. Latest victims: the dead of the earthquake in l'Aquila.
The Association of families of victims of the student's house in l'Aquila are yelling this: the short trial will destroy everything. The right to justice will be set aside to protect one person with his family and close friends. Luca Palamara, Chairman of the National judges association, said in an interview (to SkyTG24) this measure "does not give justice to the victims of crimes. It only guarantees impunity to those who have committed criminal offenses."
Because not only the trials involving the Prime Minister,
Silvio Berlusconi (the Mills trial, the sale of TV rights, these are only some of them), will be suspended but
the same thing will happen with trials that are playing with people's lives: Parmalat and Cirio trials, Banca Antonveneta and BNL, the one for workers who died at work (Thyssen) and people who died because of asbestos, the victims of the Santa Rita Clinic
in Milan. And the complex investigations under way in the collapse
of L'Aquila for the student's house and the National Boarding School will be suspended, too. Fifteen persons are investigated for murder and culpable disaster but these
crimes are punished by the code with a maximum sentence of 10 years and
then they will fall under the new rules of the short trial. So the Public Prosecutor's office is doing a race against time to avoid the statute of limitations and by July he could conduct preliminary hearings for the two collapses of 6 April 2009 which caused the death of 11 young people.
The Public Prosecutor's office is trying to bring justice while the government does not care about the dead, once again. So the committee of family members victims of the Students House decided to hold two sit-in protests during the opening ceremonies of the judicial year, due tomorrow and on 30th January. The sit-in on Saturday will be even more important than the one of tomorrow when it will be open the year of the Italian criminal justice.
Because on January 30th it will be inaugurated the judicial year 2010 and the
Justice Minister, Angelino Alfano, will take part in the ceremony. He will be there to highlight "the extraordinary results" came after the earthquake, with a sweeping new operation of the judicial offices in the district.
But it really unusual that a few days ago the same Minister signed a measure to cut the judicial staff. These cuts will be also in the court of l'Aquila and there will be many cuts. The interpretation we can obtain is that the PDL, the party that is governing Italy, has no interest in true justice, the one concerning normal people. It is a policy that perceives the judiciary as a threat, not as an ally.
The short trial is not a wrong idea. It is correct to ensure right times of justice to citizens who rarely manage to get a final sentence. But it makes no sense to apply it to those trials that have already begun, that had been experiencing a time frame that cannot adapt to new rules and that will only bring widespread amnesty. Carlo Costantini, leader of Italy of Values in the Regional Council's in Abruzzo, was clear: "The short trial is necessary only to solve the problems of Berlusconi with justice." The private interest on his own defense becomes a high interests, a public one. So to solve his problems, Silvio Berlusconi dishonors the victims of the tragedy of the earthquake in L'Aquila. Tomorrow he won't be present with the helmet to distribute dentures. Tomorrow there will be only the parents of students who were studying in l'Aquila. Those who didn't think their sons would be killed twice.
Marianna Lepore
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