A Vicenza preliminary hearings judge
on Thursday rejected a plea bargain for Wolfgang Rieke, the
62-year-old German truck driver accused of running over and
killed former cycling champion Davide Rebellin in Montebello
Vicentino last November.
Hs lawyers had requested a sentence of 3 years and 11 months.
Rieke will now stand trial for aggravated road homicide and
hit-and-run after allegedly hitting Rebellin with the
articulated lorry he was driving on a roundabout in Montebello
Vicentino on November 30, 2022.
Rebellin, 51, was one of Italy's top riders in the 1990s.
The trial has been set for April 22.
"We are satisfied with this rejection and we thank the judiciary
for their work and their attention to the case," said Rebellin's
brother, Carlo.
"Now we await the hearing on April 22, and we hope for a heavier
and fairer sentence than the one proposed in the plea bargain:
if the judge rejected it, it means that he did not consider it
congruous to the crime committed," he added.
Rieke was arrested in Germany in June and extradited to Italy in
August.
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