All acquitted in Cucchi 'beating' appeal

(ANSA) Rome, Oct. 31 - An appeal court Friday threw out the conviction of four doctors and a hospital staff member accused of killing Stefano Cucchi, a draughtsman who died murkily in Rome's Pertini hospital five years ago.
    A lower court last year also had acquitted three warders and three nurses in the case and their acquittal also was upheld by the Rome appeal court while the manslaughter conviction against the five found guilty last year was quashed. Cucchi, a Roman, died in 2009 after being arrested on a drug charge and according to the lower court his death was caused by a "severe shortage of food and liquids". An autopsy shortly after Cucchi's death found he was severely dehydrated and also had two broken vertebrae and internal organ damage. The appeal court decision however fully absolved the consultant in charge of the prison ward of the Pertini hospital.
    Aldo Fierro, and the doctors Stefania Corbi, Flaminia Bruno, Luigi De Marchis Preite, Silvia Di Carlo and Rosita Caponetti.
    Also cleared were nurses Giuseppe Flauto, Elvira Martelli and Domenico Pepe as well as prison guards Nicola Minichini, Corrado Santantonio and Antonio Domenici.
    It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would lodge a further appeal, meaning the case would be heard a third time in the Court of Cassation, Italy's Supreme Court.
    "Together with my colleagues I have been accused of barbarity, of having clubbed and beaten Stefano Cucchi," Minichini told the court earlier, "we were compared to ruthless Nazis. I would not wish anyone to go through what we have undergone. But I, we are innocent". Prison warder Domenic for his part said "we were accused of crimes we never committed, despite being absolved in the lower court." "Our only fault was to be on duty that day," he added, "In nearly 30 years of service everyone knows that I am mild and dedicated but I was called a criminal and a heavy guy." "I repeat my innocence. I didn't carry out any violent action toward Cucchi, it is not my character, all I did was to help him".