Thomas's father and mother enter the Palace of Justice silent and gripped by their grief.
"What do we expect from this trial? A life sentence without any ifs or buts": Lorenzo Sabellico is Thomas' uncle and responds without stopping as he enters the courtroom of the Assize Court of Frosinone.
There, from today and for the next few months, the truth will be sought about the murder of his nephew Thomas Bricca, the 19-year-old student killed by a gunshot to the head fired on the evening of January 30, 2023 by two people arriving on a scooter in the locality Girone in the historic center of Alatri where the victim was in the company of some friends.
"A mistaken identity" concluded the police and the prosecutor's office, the shooter wanted to kill Omar, another of the boys present that evening.
But Thomas was wearing a jacket similar to him.
In the cell reserved for the accused there are two empty chairs.
They decided not to attend the trial against Roberto and Mattia Toson (father and son aged 49 and 23) accused of premeditated murder.
Their lawyers immediately asked to cancel the summons and the trial which is opening with the immediate procedure: They believe that we should proceed with the abbreviated procedure.
Technical issues?
No, in the second rite in case of conviction you have a third discount on the sentence.
The president of the Court of Assizes Francesco Mancini says no: because "the evidentiary aspect is well defined" and "because there are too many aggravating circumstances".
The gun used is a powerful model that is used to kill, and then there are the alibis that were allegedly constructed to taint the investigations: It is not a punitive expedition that got out of hand, the Court said, but we are in the presence of a planned murder .
According to the magistrates, "the evidentiary aspect, according to the Prosecutor's Office, is well defined" and the trial can proceed quickly.
They don't want to waste time in Frosinone.
"There are too many 208 witnesses, an agreement must be found between the parties to reduce the list, this trial cannot last forever" said Judge Mancini at the end of the first hearing.
He will appoint a sound expert from the Court and will have the hundreds of wiretaps that form the basis of the investigation listened to and transcribed.
Furthermore he said no to the presence of the cameras that are following the trial.
After the days of tension in the city, where there was a procession to commemorate the student, the hearing opened in a climate of substantial calm, without protests or demonstrations.
During the hearing, presided over by judge Francesco Mancini, 208 witnesses will be heard.
The next hearings will be held every first Friday of the month.
The two defendants will already be present in the next one, "it would be desirable" said president Mancini.
"They will be there" said defenders Umberto Pappadia and Angelo Testa.
It will be the first time that Thomas' parents and the two accused will look at each other.
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