Two more Carabinieri have been placed under investigation in a probe into a cover-up of the alleged police-brutality death of Rome draughtsman Stefano Cucchi in 2009, judicial sources said Friday.
They are Francesco Di Sano, a Carabiniere based at Rome's Tor
Sapienza barracks, and lieutenant Massimiliano Colombo,
commander of that barracks.
Colombo will be questioned by prosecutors next week, sources
said.
Earlier this week his office and lodgings were searched in an
effort to find possible communications between him and superiors
at the time of Cucchi's death.
A Carabiniere who on Thursday sensationally fingered two
fellow officers for an alleged beating that allegedly caused the
Cucchi's death will testify by the end of January, judicial
sources said Friday.
Francesco Tedesco, himself accused of involuntary
manslaughter in the case, will be asked to repeat his charges
against Raffaele D'Alessandro and Alessio Di Bernardo.
Tedesco said Thursday, according to his lawyer Friday: "I am
reborn. Now I don't care if I am found guilty of thrown out of
the corps.
"I did my duty; what I wanted to do from the start and which
I was prevented from doing".
Cucchi, 31, died in a custodial hospital wing on the night
between October 22 and 23, 2009, a week after he was picked up
on minor drug charges.
Cucchi's body had many injuries that his family said were the
result of brutality.
Tedesco, one of three cops suspected of the beating, gave a
statement in which he accused the other two, Di Bernardo and
D'Alessandro.
"I said 'no more, what the f**k are you doing,'" Tedesco said
he told Di Bernardo and D'Alessandro during the beating in
questioning with investigators on July 9.
"It was a combined act. Cucchi started to lose his balance
due to a kick by D'Alessandro and then there was a violent push
by Di Bernardo, which made him lose balance and caused a violent
fall on his pelvis.
"Di Bernardo pushed but D'Alessandro struck with a kick in
Cucchi's face while he was lying on the ground".
The breakthrough came after a long legal battle featuring
several trials in which it frequently appeared that no one would
be brought to justice for Cucchi's death.
"Today there was a significant turning point for the trial
and redemption for my client and the whole Carabinieri force,"
said Tedesco's lawyer, Eugenio Pini.
Cucchi's sister Ilaria, who has relentlessly campaigned for
justice for her brother, said that "the wall has been knocked
down.
"Now lots of people will have to apologize".
Two other Carabinieri are also on trial - Roberto Mandolini
for calumny and making false statements, and Vincenzo Nicolardi,
for calumny.
Interior Minister and Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini invited
Ilaria Cucchi and the rest of the family to the interior
ministry.
"Eventual crimes or mistakes by very few men in uniform must
be punished with utmost severity," Salvini said.
"But this cannot put into doubt the daily professionalism and
heroism of hundreds and thousand of young men and women in the
police forces".
Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta, who the Carabinieri
answer to, vowed that "those who have stained themselves with
this crime will pay".
The director of a film now showing across Italy on the case
called Sulla Mia Pelle (On My Skin), Alessio Cremonini, told
ANSA:
"That damn door is opening, though it's just a hearing and
not a sentence, I hope they reach truth and justice".
"We always imagined that Stefano didn't fall down the
stairs," said Cremonini, whose film stars Alessandro Borghi as
Stefano and Jasmine Trinca as Ilaria Cucchi.
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