Italian Scientists to Stand Trial for Manslaughter in Quake Case

[The Larch]

http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/05/italian-scientists-to-stand-trial.html?ref=hp

ROME—Enzo Boschi, the president of Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), will face trial on charges of manslaughter with six other scientists and technicians for failing to alert the residents of L'Aquila ahead of the devastating earthquake that struck the central Italian town on 6 April 2009, killing 308 people.

The seven experts sit on the nation's major risks committee, and were probed by L'Aquila prosecutors after members of the public complained that it was the committee's reassurances that persuaded them not to leave their homes ahead of the quake.

In addition to Boschi, those facing trial are: Franco Barberi, committee vice president; Bernardo De Bernardinis, at the time vice president of Italy's Civil Protection Department and now president of the country's Institute for Environmental Protection and Research; Giulio Selvaggi, director of the National Earthquake Centre; Gian Michele Calvi, director of the European Centre for Training and Research in Earthquake Engineering; Claudio Eva, an earth scientist at the University of Genoa; and Mauro Dolce, director of the office of seismic risk at the Civil Protection Department.

The seven were placed under investigation almost a year ago, and today L'Aquila Judge Giuseppe Romano Gargarella announced that they will be tried. According to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Gargarella said that the seven defendants had supplied "imprecise, incomplete and contradictory information," in a press conference following a meeting held by the committee 6 days before the quake. In doing so, they "thwarted the activities designed to protect the public," the judge said.

During the meeting on 31 March 2009—which also included other researchers from the INGV, city officials and representatives of the Civil Protection Department—committee vice chair Barberi, one of the seven to be tried, said there were no grounds for thinking that a major quake was imminent, even though the area around the town had been experiencing a series of smaller tremors in the previous months. In the press briefing afterward, prosecutors say, the commission made statements that gave the town's people a false sense of security.

Boschi's lawyer, Marcello Melandri, tells ScienceInsider that Boschi has taken the judge's decision very badly and that the defendants had never expected that the case would actually go to court. Melandri insists that Boschi never sought to reassure the population of L'Aquila that there was no threat. On the contrary, the INGV head made it clear that "at some point it is probable that there will be a big earthquake" in the Abruzzo region, of which L'Aquila is the capital, he says.

Melandri says the trial, scheduled to start on 20 September, could take anywhere between 6 months and 2 years.

It seems that Berlusconi is not the only person on trial in Italy. Now seriously, mind-boggingly stupid trial, I wonder if they'll find volunteers for that kind of comittees in the future.

[Ed Anger]

lol

[grumbler]

Italian law is to law as Italian military is to military.  These are the kinds of cases that make you realize why the Mafia has been so successful in Italy for so long; because nobody with any brains becomes a government lawyer or judge.

[Slargos]

Southern European law is to law as Southern European military is to military.  These are the kinds of cases that make you realize why the Mafia has been so successful in Italy for so long; because nobody with any brains becomes a government lawyer or judge.

Fixed your post for greater accuracy.

[Pedrito]

I try to keep every little tidbit of embarassing news about Italy as much uncovered as possible, and a fucking spaniard comes and breaks the eggs in the basket. 

And that's not even the first time. I'll have you under intense scrutiny, Larchie. 

L.

[The Brain]

lol greasy-haired freaks. They really are monumentally stupid.

[The Larch]

I try to keep every little tidbit of embarassing news about Italy as much uncovered as possible, and a fucking spaniard comes and breaks the eggs in the basket. 

And that's not even the first time. I'll have you under intense scrutiny, Larchie. 

L.

There's no point in hiding something rotten, the stink still comes out.  And I didn't even find out about this through my Italian contacts!

[Neil]

Looks like someone applied the principles of American civil law to criminal law.

[jimmy olsen]

Crazy case. We're no where near being able to predicate quakes that accurately yet.

[The Minsky Moment]

Looks like someone applied the principles of American civil law to criminal law.

If this was a public body, under US civil law the members would be entitled to immunity.  If a private body, there would be no basis to sue because there would be no duty to the public.

[Pedrito]

Looks like someone applied the principles of American civil law to criminal law.

I think they simply applied the Laws of Stupid.
This wll end in a bubble, and in a lot of taxpayers' money blown up.

This story deserves one of the largest facepalms ever.

L.

[Monoriu]

I thought this kind of case only happens in places like North Korea or Burma.  It is a disgrace, really.

[DGuller]

I saw the title in Yahoo, where the nationality wasn't mentioned.  I didn't click on it to read the story, but from the title, I assumed it was about Iran.

[Pedrito]

I saw the title in Yahoo, where the nationality wasn't mentioned.  I didn't click on it to read the story, but from the title, I assumed it was about Iran.

L.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Clearly they created the earthquake with their science!
Burn the witches!