Four years after the disaster that robbed them of their loved ones, the families of the 43 victims of the Morandi bridge collapse intend to “obtain justice”. After an overwhelming investigation by the Italian prosecutor’s office targeting – among others – the motorway concessionaire, 59 people are to be tried from this Thursday in Genoa. Negligence and under-investment had notably been pointed out by the public prosecutor after three years of investigations.
A few hours before the opening of the hearing, Egle Possetti, president of the victims’ committee of the viaduct, confided in 20 minutes. A civil party to the trial, she who lost her sister, her brother-in-law, her nephew and her niece in the accident expects a lot from this judicial stage. Without desire for revenge, she hopes that the trial will “establish the degrees of responsibility” of the accused.
How do you view this trial?
The past four years have been very difficult. We await the opening of this trial with anguish and anxiety, but we have confidence in justice because the work carried out by the Italian public prosecutor’s office during the preliminary investigation was very meticulous. On the other hand, we know that this trial is likely to be long – the end of the hearing could take place in 2024 – and particularly complex. Today, this is a first phase, the merits of the case and the contradictory debates should not start before the end of the year.
A total of 59 people are sent back to court. What do you expect from them?
No one ever asked us for forgiveness. The managing company, like its shareholders, systematically tried to clear customs. It is feared that both sides will again try to blame each other. Even if we know that there is not a single culprit, we hope that the trial will make it possible to establish degrees of responsibility in the disaster.
This trial must serve as an example, otherwise it is as if nothing had happened on August 14, 2018. We are not asking for the vendetta, only justice. Our loved ones died for an absurd reason and it is inconceivable to think that in a rich country like ours, such a tragedy is possible.
How many civil parties have been brought in this case?
We don’t know the exact figure, because some parties may come forward at the hearing. What we do know, however, is that many parents who have lost one or more loved ones will not be present at the hearing because they agreed to financial transactions before the trial. After the tragedy, the families were in the dark, did not necessarily have a lawyer or the financial resources to embark on this long legal procedure. Some therefore preferred to accept this type of transaction and waive the possibility of becoming civil parties. For my part, and this is the case for other relatives of victims, being actors in this trial was very important. So we refused.
What do you think the investigation revealed?
The material evidence collected by the independent investigators was able to bring to light major maintenance problems on certain sections of the Morandi bridge. We know, for example, that for forty years, no intervention took place on pillar number 9, which first collapsed. Several months before the tragedy, internal reports to the company in charge of managing the bridge, however, called for interventions. They never took place. Finally, we know that as of the year 2015, this bridge was identified as being at risk of collapse in the documents of this same ASPI company (Autostrade per l’Italia) without any consequence.
What were the political consequences of this disaster in Italy?
We would have liked this tragedy to be the source of major changes, but unfortunately that was not the case. Work has since been launched on certain motorway sections, but there have been no major interventions. ASPI was also not financially sanctioned, on the contrary. After the collapse, the state bought the shares of this company, which belonged to the Benetton family. This takeover brought in big (8 billion euros) to shareholders when we are talking about public infrastructure. But even if our committee is very small compared to the personalities involved, we will continue to struggle and fight so that this story is not forgotten.