A sentence to be issued by Italy's
supreme Cassation Court on the 2017 Rigopiano Hotel avalanche
disaster in Abruzzo has been postponed to December 3.
The Hotel Rigopiano in Farindola was swept away and destroyed by
an avalanche on 18 January 2017, an event in which 29 people
died.
The charges of culpable disaster and manslaughter, excluded in
the first instance and appeal trials, will need to be examined
in a second appeal in Perugia, with the involvement of other
officials who worked for the local prefecture and the Abruzzo
region, who were acquitted, judicial sources said.
Last February, an appeals court convicted eight people and
acquitted 22 others in relation to the Rigopiano avalanche
disaster.
Judges in the regional capital L'Aquila upheld the convictions
handed down at first instance against Farindola mayor Ilario
Lacchetta, provincial officials Paolo D'Incecco and Mauro Di
Blasio, technician Giuseppe Gatto and former hotel manager Bruno
Di Tommaso.
They also handed down a guilty verdict against former Pescara
prefect Francesco Provolo, his former cabinet chief Leonardo
Bianco and Enrico Colangeli, a municipal technician from
Farindola, who had all been acquitted at first instance.
Provolo received a sentence of one year and eight months for
forgery and omission of official acts.
The tragedy occurred in the mountain resort of Rigopiano in
Farindola as 40 people, including guests and staff, were inside
a hotel waiting for help following extreme weather conditions
and a series of earthquakes in the area.
Most of the 29 victims were instantly crushed to death.
Eleven people survived.
Rescuers reached the site several hours after the avalanche and
had to travel on foot because roads were blocked by heavy snow.
In February 2023 a preliminary hearings judge in Pescara
convicted five people and acquitted 25 others in relation to the
tragedy, amid strong protests from victims' relatives in the
courtroom.
The 30 defendants, including administrators and public
officials, as well as the manager and owner of the hotel, were
charged in various capacities with the offences of culpable
disaster, multiple culpable homicide, injuries, forgery,
deception and building abuse.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
