Negotiation process, the judges in the council chamber

“The Court withdraws to deliberate”. It is just after thirteen when the President of the second section of the Court of Assizes of Appeal of Palermo Angelo Pellino announces in the bunker room of the Pagliarelli prison that the judges are entering the Council Chamber to decide whether to confirm or reform the sentence of first degree of the trial on the negotiation between the state and the mafia. Three and a half years after the first sentence, which condemned almost all the defendants, accused of threatening the body politic of the state, the decision of the appellate judges arrives. Which could arrive between Wednesday and Thursday. The Prosecutor General of Palermo, at the end of the indictment, had asked the Assize Court of Appeal to confirm the sentences inflicted in the first instance on bosses, former carabinieri and politicians accused of threatening the Political Body of the State. In the first instance, the boss Leoluca Bagarella was sentenced to 28 years in prison, the former officers of the Ros Mario Mori and Antonio Subranni, the former senator of Fi Marcello Dell’Utri and the ex-loyal doctor of Toto ‘Riina, Antonino Cinà were sentenced to 12 years. Eight years the sentence imposed on the former captain of the Ros Giuseppe De Donno. The Court, in the first instance, had declared the “not to proceed” against the collaborator of justice Giovanni Brusca due to the statute of limitations given the recognition of the extenuating circumstances provided for the collaborators of justice. Brusca participated in the trial in liaison from a reserved location, after being released for end of sentence, amid controversy, last week, after 25 years of detention. Massimo Ciancimino had also been sentenced to 8 years for slander and external complicity but then, in the second degree, his position was removed because the crime was prescribed. Today the defenders of some of the defendants made replies to the Attorney General which last time had reiterated the accusations to the defendants. “The Public Prosecutor’s Office entertained us on a sociological, case study and anecdotal analysis on the Mafia message, but did not cite facts relating to this process or documents relating to this process, or testimonies relating to this process”, said the lawyer Francesco Centonze, who defends the former senator Marcello Dell’Utri with the lawyer Francesco Bertorotta. “Our problem is not how the mafia threat is exercised in general – says Centonze – our problem is whether or not Marcello Dell’Utri threatened Silvio Berlusconi on the recommendation of the mafia organizations, or whether Vittorio Mangano met Dell’Utri and brought to Dell’Utri the message of organized crime on input from Brusca or Bagarella “. And he adds: “With respect to the facts of the indictment, the prosecutor general imposes silence”. ‘The Attorney General closes in a sort of comfort zone’ “The Attorney General closes in a sort of comfort zone, there is this mix of suggestions that we have heard and in which it is expected to overturn definitive sentences”, he continues. “In this comfortable corner the Pg moves – says Centonze – he takes refuge in his comfort zone, in 25 years of investigations that have led to nothing”. “These are the facts that are the subject of the 25-year trial, with relationships explored in every way so as to lead to a sentence of the Court of Appeal of Palermo confirmed by the Cassation in 2012, when the fact was deemed non-existent on the contribution of Marcello Dell’Utri to the strengthening of the partnership through political intermediation between Berlusconi and Cosa Nostra, “adds Centonze.” Mubarak’s niece, the jokes of the former prime minister “.” I draw two conclusions from this bad habit – says Centonze – the first non-juridical one: Berlusconi does not enjoy the appreciation of the Public Prosecutor of Palermo and manifests it in a public hearing, in a trial in which Berlusconi is a victim. By mocking Berlusconi, the Prosecutor General itself disowns his role as victim, as an offended person in this proceeding. They don’t even believe it. He does not believe that he is a victim, otherwise they would not make fun of him or make fun of him. “And then he concludes:” We have witnessed a silent withdrawal of the accusation from the contradictory, the substantial renunciation of refuting our arguments. The Attorney General decided to reply, but then in practice he withdrew without fanfare “. ‘The Berlusconi government opposed favorable measures’ Centonze himself said that” The Berlusconi government opposed measures in favor of the organization mafia and this emerges documentally from the papers of the Presidency of the Council filed at the trial “.” For the first time there is an explicit opposition of the Berlusconi government to any provision in favor of mafia organizations “, says. Palermo has just retired to the Council Chamber to issue the sentence of the trial on the negotiation between the state and the mafia.First there were the replies of the defense of the former senator Marcello Dell’Utri, of the general Mario Mori and of the colonel Giuseppe De Donno. “Why does this persistence continue against a person who has faithfully served this ungrateful country all his life?” With these words, the lawyer Basilio Milio, l egal of General Mario MORI, concluded his replies in the appeal process on the negotiation between the state and the mafia, which has reached its final stages. Today the judges of the Palermo Court of Assizes of Appeal retire to the Council Chamber to issue the sentence. “In the light of the data and testimonies, of the evidence that I have cited and that show that the truth of the facts of the events dealt with is what I have represented, proving it with objective elements, of the statements that also demonstrate the erroneousness of the pg – says the Milio, moved by all this, I cannot help but wonder with deep sadness in my heart why people continue to rage with unparalleled obstinacy and ignoring the evidence despite the fact that I have also represented these evidence against General Mori, a a person who has faithfully served this ungrateful country all his life “.