Injury due to fraud: Italian prosecutors called guilty of an escalator accident with fans of CSKA

The investigation of the accident on the escalator of the Roman metro station Repubblica was completed, as a result of which in October 2018 24 fans of Moscow CSKA were seriously injured. As a result of the audit, the Italian prosecutor's office found four employees of the Roman metro and the ATAC company responsible for the operation of public transport in the capital responsible for the accident. According to La Reppublica, it is about Renato D'Amico, Ettore Bucci, Alessandro Galeotti and Giuseppe Ottuso.

It is noted that they were charged with fraud with public procurement and bodily harm under aggravating circumstances. The actions of the defendants led to the fact that on October 23, 2018, many metro passengers suffered, including fans of CSKA football, who came to the Champions League match with the local “Roma”.

The conclusion of the prosecution disproves the original version, according to which the accident allegedly occurred due to the fault of fans who jumped on the escalator and disabled it. This, in particular, shortly after the incident was announced by the then head of the Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

“It seems to me that there were dozens of drunken pseudo-fans of the Russian team who were creating a mess. And the escalators are not made to be jumped on, ”the politician said on the air of the RTL radio station.

Guilt Marino, head of the Roman police, blamed on the army fans, saying that they did not comply with the prescribed standards of behavior in the city: “Football fans ignored all the recommendations that the Italian police and the Russian consulate have given them in recent days.”

Neither CSKA fans, nor the club that issued the statement, nor eyewitnesses who told the Italian media about the accident agreed with this version. The videos from the crash site of the escalator did not confirm that someone intentionally had a physical effect on the operation of the lift and provoked an emergency situation.

On the contrary, on the videos that appeared on the network, it was clear that the escalator going down at the Repubblica metro station, which was completely filled with passengers, suddenly began to accelerate and at high speed drove people to the platform, resulting in many injuries. When the escalator still stopped, its lower steps were crumpled.

As a result of the accident, 24 people were injured, who received mainly cuts from distorted metal. Most of them were CSKA fans, many needed hospitalization. One of the fans, Dmitry Tyurin, was threatened with amputation of his leg. Doctors managed to save the limb, but, according to the sister of the victim, the risk of amputation remained for another six months, and for a full recovery he needed expensive rehabilitation. A month later, Tyurin was delivered to Russia from a Roman clinic.

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Publication by Filin (@ filin_77) Nov 21, 2018 at 7:21 PST

The Repubblica station was closed on the same day due to the breakdown of the escalator. The reopening took place only eight months later. At the same time, ATAC did not manage to repair the faulty escalator, only blocking it with protective shields. At the same time, according to Il Messaggero, € 500 thousand was spent on repair and maintenance work.

Four of these defendants were also charged because of another similar incident in the Roman metro. On March 21, 2019, the escalator at the neighboring Barbini station similarly failed. None of the passengers were accidentally injured, but the station also had to be closed. Trains still pass her without stopping. For the same reason, the work of the Spagna station was interrupted for a month and a half. The Italian media say that this problem is of a systemic nature, since now on all lines of the Roman metro there are escalators that are idle due to technical malfunctions.

The Italian prosecutor's office determined that both of these accidents were related to each other and were the result of negligent actions by ATAC and metro employees. Law enforcement agencies recorded numerous cases of forgery of documents aimed at not conducting technical checks of escalators.

As a result, over the past year alone, about 7 thousand necessary operations have not been performed with respect to mechanical devices in the Roman metro. According to the prosecutor's office, the company management was aware of the problems, but took no action to avoid the closure of the stations.

It is noted that one of the direct causes of the October accident at Republik was interference in the emergency braking system and the use of low-quality elements in it. Similar problems were also discovered at the Barbini and nearly led to another tragic incident.