L'AQUILA, Italy (AP) — An Italian court convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter on Monday for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people.
The court in L'Aquila also sentenced the defendants to six years in prison. Each one is a member of the national Great Risks Commission.
In Italy, convictions aren't definitive until after at least one level of appeals, so it is unlikely any of the defendants would face jail immediately.
Scientists worldwide had decried the trial as ridiculous, contending that science has no reliable way of predicting earthquakes.
Among those convicted were some of Italy's most prominent and internationally respected seismologists and geological experts, including Enzo Boschi, former head of the national Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
"I am dejected, desperate," Boschi said after the verdict. "I thought I would have been acquitted. I still don't understand what I was convicted of."
The trial began in September 2011 in this Apennine town, whose devastated historic center is still largely a ghost town.
The defendants were accused in the indictment of giving "inexact, incomplete and contradictory information" about whether small tremors felt by L'Aquila residents in the weeks and months before the April 6, 2009, quake should have constituted grounds for a quake warning.
The 6.3-magnitude quake killed 308 people in and around the medieval town and forced survivors to live in tent camps for months.
Many much smaller earth tremors had rattled the area in the months before the quake, causing frightened people to wonder if they should evacuate.
"I consider myself innocent before God and men," said another convicted defendant, Bernardo De Bernardinis, a former official of the national Civil Protection agency.
Prosecutors had sought conviction and four-year sentences during the non-jury trial, which was led by a judge.
A defense lawyer, Filippo Dinacci, told reporters that the sentence would have "big repercussions" on public administration since officials would be afraid to "do anything."
nowaysj wrote:The 6.3-magnitude quake killed 308 people in and around the medieval town and forced survivors to live in tent camps for months.
No wait, they lived in a medievil town? Uhh yeah geniuses, we don't have a time machine yet. How could those scientists tell them when they're living a different fucking century?
suppose you could say these guys were at.... FAULT
Laszlo wrote:and yay, upon imparting his knowledge to his fellow Ninjas, Nevalo spoke wisely that when aggrieved by a woman thou shalt put it in her bum.
Apparently other italian disaster experts are resigning their posts. Seems like no one else wants to be prosecuted for manslaughter for failing to use a time machine.
how does this even happen? the scientists must feel as if they are trapped in a nightmare.
is it bad to assume they were used as a scapegoat? the news said they were in the town fairly close to the quake telling everyone that there was nothing to worry about (they had been experiencing earth tremors)
so they just seemed like the easiest people to blame. either that or this is like the salem witch trials. madness.
At the core of the dispute is the fact that one technician said that he felt there was an elevated chance of a big earthquake coming up; several [theoretically] more qualified, actual seismologists (not technicians) said they disagreed. Based on that, the locals who were spooked by the tremors allegedly stayed put based on the seismologists' advice and then died when it really did come to pass that a big quake hit.
Now, that being said-
It's still fucking retarded because non è possibile prevedere i terremoti, idioti.
A few of their top scientists involved have resigned because of this... dont blame them tbh.
Laszlo wrote:and yay, upon imparting his knowledge to his fellow Ninjas, Nevalo spoke wisely that when aggrieved by a woman thou shalt put it in her bum.
this is fucked up, even by italian standards
