Farewell to Del Turco, last secretary of the Psi party then swept away by the judicial storm as governor of Abruzzo

Ottaviano Del Turco, the last national secretary of the Italian Socialist Party (1993-1994), finance minister (2000-2001) president of the Abruzzo Region (2005-2008) and deputy secretary of the CGIL, has died at the age of 79. The news was given by his son Guido in a Facebook post. "Hi dad. I loved you. So much. And thank you for letting me stay next to you for 15 years, when the sea went stormy'. Born in Collelongo in the province of L'Aquila on 7 November 1944, he began his trade union career in the Rome office of the National Confederal Institute of Assistance (Inca). He was deputy secretary of the CGIL with Luciano Lama in 1983. In July 1992 he left the trade union and a year later became national secretary of the PSI, taking over from Giorgio Benvenuto. In the 2001 political elections he was re-elected senator for L'Ulivo and in the 2004 European elections he was elected to the European Parliament for the list United in the Ulivo. The following year, in 2005, he was elected president of the Abruzzo Region with 58.1% of the vote, defeating outgoing president Giovanni Pace.

In July 2008, Del Turco was forced to leave the leadership of his Region due to the judicial investigation launched by the Pescara Public Prosecutor's Office, which involved him although he has always declared his innocence. In mid-July 2008, in fact, he was arrested along with councillors and former councillors and officials of the Region on charges of having pocketed bribes from private healthcare companies. After about a month in prison, he was placed under house arrest and from his home in Collelongo throughout the investigation he always reiterated that he had never pocketed a bribe from private healthcare companies. At first instance, however, he was sentenced to nine years and six months, a sentence later reduced to four years and two months, only to see the Court of Cassation annul the conviction for criminal conspiracy but confirm the charge of criminal conspiracy. Only later did the Court of Appeal of Perugia acquit him of this charge as well. The sentence was then finally re-sentenced to three years and 11 months imprisonment for undue induction.

There were many messages of condolence, including one from the President of the Abruzzo Region, Marco Marsilio: 'I express my sincerest condolences and those of the entire Regional Council to his family and loved ones on the death of former Regional Council President and former minister Ottaviano Del Turco. We will carry with us the memory of him as, first as a trade unionist, then at the top of the Socialist Party, then in Parliament and in government, he traced an important furrow in reformist politics".