There is no judge to be able to hold the hearings scheduled before the single judge of Vibo Valentia and 27 trials have been postponed for seven months, to the hearing on December 17th. These are criminal proceedings that have been under discussion for some time, but with preliminary investigations carried out for the last time, in some cases, even in July last year.
The chain of referrals and role changes
Since then a long postponement to the month of January 2026, but also on this occasion there was a new postponement by judge Luca Bertola (who then moved on to the role of investigating judge/gup) as these were proceedings assigned to judge Gabriella Lupoli, who in December left the role of the family in the civil sector to return to the criminal sector. From January we therefore jumped to May, but here is another postponement as Judge Lupoli is absent and hence the postponement of the discussion of his trials to the hearing on 17 December 2026.
The risk of prescription and the president’s complaint
Many of the contested crimes – pending the dates of the contestations – are at risk of statute of limitations and in several criminal proceedings there are duly constituted civil parties. The risk of ruining years of investigations and complaints by those who have entrusted themselves to the Vibo justice system is real. A situation most recently denounced by the President of the Court Abigail Mellace on 16 April when she took office.