Collapse of the Genoa bridge: five minutes to understand the stakes of an extraordinary trial

It was not yet noon when the Morandi bridge overlooking Genoa in northern Italy collapsed in torrential rain on August 14, 2018. Some witnesses on that day spoke of the dull sound of "a bomb exploding ".

Dozens of vehicles rush into the void and 43 people, including 4 French perish in the collapse of the viaduct.

Nearly four years after the tragedy, a titanic trial opens this Thursday in the Italian city to determine the responsibilities.

Le Parisien takes stock of the main issues of this judicial component which could last for years.

Why does this trial look out of the ordinary?

The city of Genoa sees the opening of a river trial this Thursday which will summon 59 defendants to the bar of the accused and more than 350 civil parties, according to the Italian daily La Repubblica.

Three rooms will be connected by videoconference to the courtroom, allowing journalists, elected politicians or ordinary citizens to attend the proceedings.

The families of the victims follow on a monitor the first hearing of the trial of the Morandi bridge collapse at the Genoa court on July 7, 2022. AFP or licensors

"Requests from journalists have arrived from all over the world," said Enrico Ravera, president of the Genoa court, to the local television channel Primocanale.

There are no precedents, there has never been a lawsuit of this type that can help us fix an organization.

So we tried to organize ourselves as best we could,” he explained.

The hearings could last until 2024. A delay which can be explained "due to the large number of documents and the complexity of the process itself", underlined Enrico Ravera.

What lawsuits?

Italian justice should establish the degrees of responsibility in the disaster.

Most of the defendants are executives and technicians from the two companies responsible for maintaining the bridge, Autostrade per l'Italia (Aspi) and the engineering company Spea.

When the viaduct collapsed, the two companies belonged to the Atlantia group, owned by the wealthy Benetton family.

Pushed towards the exit, the Benettons had to finally cede their share last May to the State.

But the former general manager of the Italian group now finds himself in the dock, as are the former leaders of the Aspi and Spea companies.

Their negligence in the maintenance of the bridge is singled out.

The charges against them range from "manslaughter" to "voluntary collapse" through "endangering transport security" and "voluntary removal of a security device".

What has the investigation revealed so far?

Three months before retirement, the Genoa prosecutor, Francesco Cozzi, had returned his 2000 pages of investigation in April 2021, revealing a series of shortcomings in the maintenance of the structure.

Because the solidity of the viaduct had already been the subject of several warnings.

Since the construction of the bridge in 1967, the stay cables of pier number 9, the one that collapsed, have never been reinforced.

The collapse of the Morandi bridge, which killed 43 people, cut the city of Genoa in two for several months.

Valery HACHE / AFP AFP or licensors

The checks, when they took place, had been carried out by Spea “with binoculars or telescopes” and not closely.

These checks "were therefore unable to provide reliable information on the condition of the bridge", judged the public prosecutor.

According to the investigation, the concessionaire would have shown “negligence by ignoring the signs” that the viaduct was weakened.

He would also have been aware of the risk incurred, and this, well before the tragedy.

What are the families of the victims waiting for?

Most families today say they are waiting for the trial, between anguish and anxiety.

“We are not asking for

only justice.

Our loved ones died for an absurd reason and it is inconceivable to think that in a rich country like ours, such a tragedy is possible”, explained, in an interview at 20 minutes, Egle Possetti, president of the committee of victims. of the viaduct who herself lost four members of her family in the accident.

If the trial promises to be long and trying, its holding is already a victory.

Because the case could have been settled only by a check.

The Autostrade company had disbursed more than 60 million euros to compensate the families of victims.

Only two of them, including Egle Possetti, declined the offer, to be able to constitute a civil party.

The other refusal comes from Roberto Battiloro, who lost his son Giovanni, a young 29-year-old videographer, and who had been offered a million euros.

“My son's life is priceless, I want truth and justice,” he told the Italian press.

What context?

The Genoa tragedy shed a harsh light on the poor state of transport infrastructure in Italy.

Between 2014 and 2018, eight bridges collapsed in Italy, lists La Croix.

Over the past ten years, Italian governments have continually reduced infrastructure investment budgets, neglecting the maintenance of the Italian road network.

Read also11:40 a.m., the viaduct collapses… Disaster scenario in Genoa

Since the summer of 2020, a new one kilometer long viaduct, designed from a sketch by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, has emerged, replacing the Morandi bridge which was dismantled.

The new bridge is topped with 43 luminous pillars (or masts), in tribute to each of the victims of the 2018 collapse.

The result of a race against time for the city of Genoa which had employed nearly 1,000 workers taking turns day and night for months.

Most of the families of the victims had refused to attend the inauguration of the viaduct, demanding that justice be done to them.