A court will hand down verdicts on Monday in the trial of six Italian scientists and a government official charged with manslaughter for underestimating the risks of a deadly earthquake in 2009.
The case has provoked outrage in the international scientific community, with some commentators warning that any convictions would dissuade other experts from sharing their expertise.
Prosecutor Fabio Picuti wants each of them jailed for four years. He argued in court that they failed to alert the population of the medieval town of L’Aquila to the risks, days before the 6.3-magnitude quake killed 309 people.
All seven were members of the Major Risks Committee, which met in the central Italian city on March 31, 2009 – six days before the quake devastated the region, tearing down houses and churches and leaving thousands homeless.
Picuti said the experts had provided “an incomplete, inept, unsuitable and criminally mistaken” analysis, which had reassured locals. That meant they did not prepare for the quake, with many staying indoors when the first tremors hit.
The government committee had met after a series of small tremors in the preceding weeks had sparked panic among local inhabitants – particularly after a local resident began making unnerving unofficial earthquake predictions.
