First smog trial in Turin, former mayors Appendino and Fassino involved
First hearing after the complaint by the Comitato Torino Respira - This would be the first trial in Italy for the crime of culpable environmental pollution
3' min read
3' min read
This is the first stage of a legal case that promises to go on for a long time and whose protagonists are the administrations that have led the City of Turin in recent years and the Comitato Torino Respira, which has made the first complaints about the air quality and the lack of adequate environmental policies to contain pollution and emissions harmful to health.
First hearing on 18 June
Tuesday 18 June is scheduled for the first hearing of the 'Smog Trial', as it is called in the city, in which the municipal and regional public administrators who governed Turin and Piedmont from 2015 to 2019 have been sued for the crime of culpable environmental pollution. At the centre of the investigation, first, and the trial, now, are the responsibilities with respect to the protection of air quality in the Piedmontese capital.
Seven people are involved, among them the former mayor Chiara Appensino, her predecessor Piero Fassino, and the former president of the Piedmont Region, Sergio Chiamparino. In particular, the investigators could accuse the defendants of failing to take effective measures to prevent the continuous exceeding of the limits of concentration of pollutants in the air established by law, 'exceedances that have resulted, according to the technical consultants of the Public Prosecutor's Office, in over a thousand premature deaths and numerous hospital admissions,' as the Comitato Torino Respira recalls in a note.
This would be the first criminal trial in Italy of this kind, in which the administrators of territorial public bodies are charged with the crime of culpable environmental pollution, which the legislator introduced in 2015 for a more incisive protection of the environment. This is a highly topical issue for Piedmont and the entire Po Valley basin, for which, among other things, there is an agreement (Protocol) between several regions to implement prevention actions.
The accusations against the administrators
This is a pre-trial hearing, dedicated to preliminary issues, the judge could therefore decide, after an initial examination of the documents, to pronounce for an immediate acquittal, notwithstanding possible procedural problems that could lead to a dismissal or postponement. If it goes ahead, however, the Committee announces that it will in any case join the civil action.
