Former Ilva, the Taranto Court of Appeal annuls the 'Sold-out environment' trial and transfers the documents to Potenza

Trial for the environmental disaster at Ilva under Riva's management, it's all to be remade. In a ruling issued on 13 September, the Taranto Court of Appeal, presided over by Antonio Del Coco, annulled the first-degree verdict, handed down by the Assize Court in May 2021 after a very long trial, and transferred the acts to the Potenza Public Prosecutor's Office. The latter is competent for what concerns the acts of the magistrates of Taranto.

The trial will now start again in the capital of Basilicata. The Court of Assize of Appeal will file within 15 days the grounds of the decision that cancelled the first-degree trial, which ended with 26 convictions, among factory executives, managers and former public administrators, for a total of 270 years in prison. At that time, the Assize Court also ordered the confiscation of the hot zone plants - which would eventually be triggered after confirmation in the Court of Cassation - and the confiscation in equivalent amount of the illicit profit against the companies Ilva spa, Riva fire and Riva forni elettrici for a sum of 2.1 billion. At the end of that trial, Fabio and Nicola Riva, former owners and directors of Ilva, were sentenced to 22 years and 20 years' imprisonment respectively. They were convicted of conspiracy to commit environmental disaster, poisoning of foodstuffs, and wilful failure to take precautions in the workplace. The former president of the Puglia Region, Nichi Vendola, was also convicted on other charges.

But why is the trial now going to Potenza? The defence of some of the defendants asked the appeal judges for a transfer (seeing their argument accepted) because there is 'an environmental incompatibility'. According to the lawyers, in fact, 'the trial cannot be held in front of the Taranto magistrates because they would not have the necessary serenity to judge, as they too would be offended and damaged by the crime of pollution'. This petition, to tell the truth, was already raised in the Assize Court but was rejected. So much so that the Court (president Stefania D'Errico) duly went ahead with the hearings, at the end of May 2021 it issued the sentence, and in November 2022 it finally filed the motivations in about 3,700 pages. The appeal began in April and here the defence of some defendants renewed the request already made in the first instance, citing the same grounds.

In the hearings that have taken place so far, the civil parties' lawyers have insisted on keeping the second instance in Taranto, and even the public prosecutors Raffaele Graziano and Giovanna Cannarile, together with Attorney General Mario Barruffa, have pointed out that a recent ruling by the Supreme Court has expressly clarified that anyone who chooses to take legal action is to be considered part of a trial, while none of the magistrates in Taranto have done so. Therefore, according to the prosecutors, since the magistrates themselves are not part of the criminal proceedings, there are no grounds for the trial to be moved. But of a different opinion was the Court of Assize of Appeal with the order stopping everything and transferring the case to Potenza. Many protests have been raised by the environmentalist front (Peacelink, Veraleaks and Codacons), who now fear a coup de grâce, the risk of a statute of limitations for many crimes and an infinite lengthening of the time taken by justice.

It should be noted that the trial at first instance had already had a tortuous start with a false start in 2015 due to an error in the minutes, a formal defect, i.e. the absence of the names of the defendants' lawyers. It then started in May 2016 and went on with hundreds of hearings until May 2021. And yet the most relevant aspect is that this trial stems from the action that in July 2012, therefore 12 years ago, led the Taranto Magistracy to seize the plants of the former Ilva hot-air area, accusing the Riva family of serious environmental crimes. Plants that are still sequestered, although they have been granted the right to use them. That affair also led to the Riva's exit from the company and the state commission (June 2013). Commissioning that now continues with the extraordinary administration that has invested not only the former Ilva, but also the company that came after, Acciaierie d'Italia.