Twelve regional officials, RFI managers, Anas and the mayor had been sent back death of Giovanni Mazzara occurred on January 22, 2017 following theflooding of the Morello stream in the area of Castronovo di Sicilia (Palermo).
Today the judge of the Termini Imerese court, Erina Cirincione has all the accused were acquitted for not having committed the crime. Antonino Di Chiara, 61 years old and Giuseppe Marsala, 61 years old, both from Lercara Friddi, had been sent to trial on charges of manslaughter; Valerio Mele, 51 years old, from Bari, responsible for territorial coordination in Sicily; Nicola Montesano, 55 years old, from Osnago (Lc), responsible for the Palermo roads department area; Eutimio Mucilli, 63 years old, from Castiglion Messer Marino (Ch) regional director of the Anas Sicilia structure, Antonio Marsella 54 years old from Naples manager of the technical area for operating state roads in Palermo; Rosaria Barresi, 64 years old, from Palermo, general manager of the regional Department of the Environment, Salvatore Giglione, 64 years old from Casteltermini (Ag), general manager of the regional command of the forestry corps, Carmelo Rogolino, 63 years old from Reggio Calabria, responsible for the territorial production management of RFI Palermo; Michele Martinelli, 49 years old from Palermo and Francesco Ripepi, 68 years old, from Calanna (Rc) managers of the RFI territorial unit of Caltanissetta; Francesco Giuseppe Onorato, 49 years old, from Palermo, mayor of Castronovo di Sicilia.
They are defended by lawyers Pietro Sorce, Giacomo Culora, Sergio Monaco, Fabio Ferrara, Massimo Motisi, Marco Aricò, Teodoro Caldarone, Alberto Gullino, Fabrizio Biondo, Antonio Ficarra. The watercourse, following the intense rains, had overwhelmed the unfortunate man who, driving an Audi Q5 with three passengers on board, all from Campofranco, had taken the provincial road 78 closed to traffic, not being able to travel along the SS 189 which had already been closed by the Carabinieri and Anas who intervened on the Lercara – Castronovo stretch due to road conditions. The trial saw as defendants the regional officials of the regional Land and Forestry Department, for the maintenance of the river basin, those responsible for Anas and RFI, in relation to the structural aspects of the road and railway works, the mayor of Castronovo, for the bureaucratic aspects relating to the updating of the regional hydrogeological plan (PAI). During the trial it emerged that the victim had taken a completely prohibited road closed to traffic in conditions of extreme danger to avoid the road blockade by the police on state road 189. Hence the acquittal for all the accused.