• Student died falling from a balcony in Palma de Mallorca, 2 young men sentenced to 6 years

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10 February 2020 The appeal process for the death of Martina Rossi, the Genoa student who died falling from a hotel room in Palma de Mallorca on August 3, 2011, starts in Florence, while according to the prosecution she was fleeing an attempted rape.

The proceeding, which sees Luca Vanneschi and Alessandro Albertini, both from Arezzo, accused, continues for the only crime of attempted group sexual violence after in November 2019 the court declared the death charge as a consequence of another crime extinguished by prescription.

Today's hearing, initially scheduled for September 2020, was brought forward on the recommendation of the court of appeal. Judges rejected the objection of nullity presented by the lawyer Stefano Buricchi, defender of one of the accused, who disputes the new scheduling and also the violation of the principle of the natural judge, by virtue of the replacement of two members of the board of judges.

The decision to bring forward the hearing by the Florence court of appeal was made last November after the controversy, also in the media, following the setting of the hearing almost a year later, that is to say September 25, 2020.

The crime for which it is now proceeding, the attempted sexual violence, will lapse in August 2021. On December 14, 2018, the two defendants were sentenced in the first instance to 6 years each. In the event of an conviction on appeal, the sentence should at least be halved, due to the prescription of the death charge as a consequence of another crime.

For the accusation, Martina Rossi would have fallen from the terrace on the sixth floor of the hotel in an attempt to escape sexual violence. Defense attorneys have always supported the suicide argument.

The father: "Prescription, profound injustice"
"The fact that half of my trial has already been prescribed is a profound injustice," says Bruno Rossi, Martina's father. "When someone hurts and there is a sentence, it should be enough, stop. But it is politics that should intervene in these matters and find the right solution" continued Martina's father. "My daughter was hurt - the father added - She was a happy girl, she was on vacation. Two stunned boys reached out and then she flew down from a balcony".

This morning at the hearing, in the discussion of the preliminary issues, there were moments of heated defense and the general prosecutor. "I am not surprised, I am struck too when I hear a lawyer propose himself so strongly to those who represent justice - said Bruno Rossi - But it is the logic of this process, which is why the first instance lasted for years".