The shocking images of the collapse of the Genoa bridge, which killed 43 people, have gone around the world.

Four years later, an extraordinary trial involving 59 defendants opens Thursday, July 7, in this Italian port city to determine the responsibilities.

On August 14, 2018, in the pouring rain, the Morandi motorway bridge, an essential axis for local journeys and traffic between Italy and France, collapsed, throwing dozens of vehicles and their passengers into the void.

The tragedy then sheds a harsh light on the poor state of transport infrastructure in Italy and the troubled role of the company Autostrade per l'Italia (Aspi), accused of not having maintained the work of art to save money. disregard for security.

>> To see: "In pictures: the collapse of the Genoa bridge, a national disaster"

"The Morandi Bridge was a ticking time bomb. You could hear the ticking, but you didn't know when it was going to explode," Walter Cotugno, one of the prosecutors, said in February.

For him, there is no doubt that the leaders of Autostrade and the engineering company Spea, in charge of maintenance, "were aware of the risk of collapse", but that they were reluctant to finance works in order to "preserve the dividends" of the shareholders.

The findings of the magistrates' investigation are overwhelming: "Between the inauguration (of the bridge) in 1967 and the collapse - therefore 51 years later -, minimal maintenance interventions were not carried out to reinforce the stays of pillar number 9", which collapsed on the day of the tragedy.

A witness of size, the new boss and executive of Autostrade since 2015

Most of the defendants summoned by the Genoa court are executives and technicians from the two companies, including the general manager of Autostrade at the time, Giovanni Castellucci, who left with compensation of 13 million euros, as well as former Spea boss Antonino Galata and officials from the Ministry of Infrastructure.

They are prosecuted in particular for manslaughter, attack on transport security and forgery in public writing.

The duration of the trial is estimated at two or three years.

For Giovanni Paolo Accinni, one of Giovanni Castellucci's lawyers, the indictment "will fall like an autumn leaf" if the trial is "fair" and "protects not only the victims, but also the innocent".

>> To see: "After the collapse of the viaduct, life is struggling to resume in Genoa"

But the prosecution will be able to count on a major witness: Roberto Tomasi, successor to Giovanni Castellucci and Autostrade executive since 2015, who shows his desire to turn the page and who could prove cumbersome for his predecessor.

Autostrade belonged at the time of the tragedy to the Atlantia group, controlled by the wealthy Benetton family, which ended up ceding its share in May to the State, pushed towards the exit under pressure from the political class and popular vindictiveness.

"My son's life is priceless, I want a real trial"

If their former leaders find themselves on the bench of the accused, the companies Autostrade and Spea on the other hand escape the trial thanks to an amicable agreement concluded with the prosecution, providing for the payment of 29 million euros to the State.

For Raffaele Caruso, lawyer for the Committee of relatives of the victims of the Morandi bridge, this pact "constitutes a first recognition of responsibility" on the part of the two companies.

"This is one of the most important trials in recent Italian history, in terms of the number of defendants, the scale of the tragedy, and in terms of the injury inflicted on a whole city," he told AFP.

Only two families of victims refused to accept the compensation offered by Autostrade, which paid out more than 60 million euros in this respect.

Egle Possetti, president of the Committee of relatives of the victims, declined the offer so as not to lose the possibility of becoming a civil party and weighing in on the trial.

"I'm sure many, not all, knew the bridge was going to collapse one day, and some pretended not to see it," she told AFP bitterly.

The other refusal came from Roberto Battiloro, who lost his son Giovanni, a young 29-year-old videographer, in the tragedy and who was offered a million euros: "My son's life has not price, I want a real trial."

With AFP

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