Piacenza, all unfaithful carabinieri convicted: 12 years in Montella

Sentences from 3 years and 4 months up to 12 years for the infidel carabinieri of Piacenza, men whom the chief prosecutor of Piacenza, Grazia Pradella, had not hesitated to define “traitors of the state”. In the trial with shortened rite, before the judge Fiammetta Modica, the sentences inflicted on the five defendants satisfy the accusation. For Giuseppe Montella, considered the leader of the group, the highest sentence: 12 years, the prosecution had asked for 16 years, one month and 10 days. He admitted his responsibilities – admitting that he took part in most of the approximately 60 episodes contained in the indictment (for events that took place from October 2018 to June 2020) – but has always claimed that he did not act alone. Lower penalties for others. Sentenced – always to penalties lower than the requests of the prosecution – the appointed officer Salvatore Cappellano to 8 years (the request was 14 years, 5 months and 10 days), 6 years for his colleague Giacomo Falanga (13 years the request for sentence ), 4 years for Marco Orlando (5 years the request) at the time commander of the station in via Caccialupo. For Daniele Spagnolo the lowest sentence is 3 years and 4 months (request of the prosecutor 7 years and 8 months). Tired but satisfied, the chief prosecutor of Piacenza Grazia Pradella. “The accusatory system has held up in full,” she said when contacted by Adnkronos. Less than a year after the handcuffs and the seizure of the Levante barracks – the first time in Italy – the verdict arrives against those who with behavior of “exceptional gravity have offended the carabinieri who work in silence and with a spirit of service”, the words used by the chief prosecutor in the indictment last April. In the Piacenza Expo classroom, transformed into a court to comply with anti Covid regulations, before the gup Fiammetta Modica, it was prosecutor Antonio Colonna who rebuilt “the Levant system” and explained the responsibilities of all the accused “blinded by the arrogance of those who believe themselves above the rules “, capable of maintaining a parallel system made up of lies, seizures of drugs sold through trusted pusher, of ‘engineered’ arrests to increase statistics, of beatings in such a way as to configure the torture. Contempt shines through in listing the alleged offenses committed by the five carabinieri who have chosen the abbreviated one – it allows the reduction of a third of the sentence – to defend against a string of crimes ranging from drug dealing to embezzlement, from forgery to injuries and to torture. “There are people who wear uniforms with honor and for this reason reading these facts is a cause of humiliation and shame. I dedicate my speech to these brave women and men”, one of the passages of the intervention before the civil parties, including some associations of carabinieri. The reasons will be announced in 90 days.