The femicide of Sara Campanella, the 22 -year -old young man killed with stabbed in Messina, closed tragically without a trial being ever celebrated. The manager of the murder, Stefano Argentino, guilty confess, took his life in the prison of Gazzi, where he was awaiting trial. An extreme gesture that interrupted the judicial process, leaving the victim’s family without judicial truth, justice and compensation.
But the tragedy did not stop with the death of the killer. The legal paradox was added to the damage: the Italian state, by omitted vigilance, could be called to compensate the family of the author of the crime, while Sara’s parents remain excluded from any concrete form of compensation. A regulatory short circuit that has rekindled the spotlight on the law 199 of 2003 and on the effectiveness of the protections provided for the victims of violent crimes.
Suicide in prison and the failure of surveillance
Stefano Argentino, 27 years old, took his life by hanging himself in his cell a few days after the start of the trial for voluntary murder. The young man had been subjected to special surveillance for suicidal risk in the past, he then inexplicably measuring worrying psychological signals.
His lawyer, Giuseppe Cultrera, pointed his finger at the prison administration: “The state has ignored our request for a psychiatric report. The only responsibility is institutional.” Declarations that could prelude to legal action against the state by omitted vigilance and violation of the right to health of the prisoner. An investigation has been opened on the matter: the body has been seized and will be subjected to autopsy to clarify any responsibilities of the penitentiary staff.
The paradox: compensation to the family members of the suicide, nothing for the victim’s family
The Italian legislation and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights provide that the State is responsible for the protection of the physical and mental integrity of prisoners. According to article 27 of the Constitution, “penalties cannot consist of treatments contrary to the sense of humanity”. Based on this principle, the suicide prisoner family can now request compensation for the state by omitted vigilance.
And here the contradiction emerges: while the state could indemnify the family members of the executioner, Sara Campanella’s parents have no possibility of obtaining civil justice, nor economic compensation. With the death of the defendant, in fact, the criminal proceeding is extinguished (“mors rei”) and with it the right of the civil party to claim.
There is no assets to be referred to, nor is there an economic liability for the offenders of the offender. The only possible way remains that provided for by the state fund for the victims of violent intentional crimes, which however provides for a maximum compensation of 50,000 euros. A symbolic figure, which can nothing against the void left by a daughter torn from life with ferocity.
What provides for Law 199 of 2003 on the victims of violent crimes
The law of 23 July 2003, n. 199, subsequently integrated by law 122/2016, establishes a state fund for the economic support of the victims of serious crimes such as murder, sexual violence or very serious personal injuries. It is a public contribution, financed by the Ministry of the Interior and managed through the Prefectures, intended for the families of the victims who are unable to obtain compensation in the civil seat.
In the case of murder, the maximum expected is 50,000 euros. For other crimes the figures are even lower. But accessing the bottom is not at all simple: it is necessary to comply with stringent requirements, including the economic condition, the absence of co -responsibility of the victim and the peremptory term of 60 days from the conclusion of the criminal trial.
And here is a further distortion: if the process does not reach a sentence, as happened in the case of Sara, the practice risks not even being able to be started, nullifying the only residual form of protection provided for by the system.
The open node of the forgotten victims
The case of Sara Campanella reopens a deep wound: that of a state that, for regulatory and procedural empty limits, ends up abandoning the victims and, sometimes, to indirectly reward the executioners.
A system that not only lacks concrete answers, but seems unable to recognize the pain and rights of families broken by tragedies like this. The death of Stefano Argentine closed every possible judicial path, but has left an urgent and dramatic debate open: who really protects the victims of feminicides in Italy?.