The trial involving the doctor Giampaolo Amato, 64, accused of killing his wife Isabella Lsala, between 30 and 31 October 2021, has begun before the Assize Court of Bologna, presided over by judge Pier Luigi Di Bari. , and also her mother-in-law, Giulia Tateo, who died 22 days before her daughter.
The two women, according to the deputy prosecutor Morena Plazzi and the prosecutor Domenico Ambrosino, were poisoned with a mix of psychotropic drugs and anaesthetic.
Amato, an ophthalmologist who worked for both Virtus Basketball and the Bologna Local Health Authority, has always proclaimed his innocence: he was arrested in April 2023 and has been in prison ever since.
Civil parties in the trial will be Isabella Lsala's sister and Giulia Tateo's brother, assisted respectively by lawyers Maurizio Merlini and Francesca Stortoni.
The Udi (Italian Women's Union) of Bologna also asked to be a civil party.
The Bologna Local Health Authority, however, will be a civil party in relation to the hypothesis of embezzlement, another accusation to which the accused will have to answer for having stolen the drugs (as a doctor of the Local Health Authority on duty) and of illicit possession of the substances narcotics or psychotropic drugs used to commit the crimes.
The small room where the Assize is held is full, but without cameras given the ban imposed by the President of the Court.
Strict controls were carried out both at the entrance to the Court and to the courtroom, which was initially cordoned off: the only window was covered with a screen to avoid photos and videos.
The relatives and friends of the victim and the accused are almost all standing, lined up on two sides of the courtroom.
Amato's brothers present.
The defendant, dressed in overalls, arrived using a crutch to walk and sat next to his lawyers.
The trial, set for 9am, began more than an hour late.
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