Court rules 7 victims at fault over earthquake deaths

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 15 - A court in L'Aquila has upheld a ruling that effectively said that seven young people who were among the 308 victims of the April 6, 2009, earthquake in the central Italian city were at fault, Abruzzo daily 'Il Centro' reported on Monday.
    The court confirmed a previous decision regarding a civil suit made in 2022 that said the premier's office was not to blame for the deaths of the students and ordered their relatives to pay around 14,000 euros in legal costs on the grounds that the victims' imprudent conduct has been a factor in their deaths, according to the report.
    It is the latest in a series of controversial rulings regarding the quake.
    A suit for millions of euros in damages presented by some of the relatives of 24 people who died in a building in the centre of the Abruzzo capital reduced the compensation for similar reasons.
    The judge said these people should have left their accommodation, rather than staying inside, after two strong tremors, one at 23:00 and the other at 1am, before the deadly quake hit at 3:32.
    As a result, it said that the victims had a share of the blame.
    This is a moot point as as experts had played down fears about a possible disaster during seismic activity in the run-up to it..
    In that case the victims' relatives had sued the heirs of the building's constructor, who has since died, due to irregularities in how it was built and the interior ministry and the transport and infrastructure ministry, and the city council for failing to conduct the proper oversight.
    Seven members of the Major Risks Prevention Commission were convicted over the information people received before the quake, but those rulings were all subsequently quashed, except for that of Bernardo De Bernardinis, former vice-president of Civil Protection Agency's technical department, whose conviction was upheld by the supreme court, while the term was reduced. (ANSA).