By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

L’AQUILA, Italy – Six prominent Italian earthquake scientists (seismologists) on the Major Risks Commission and a senior government official were convicted of manslaughter on Monday by an Italian court and sentenced to six years in prison each for failure to communicate to the city of L’Aquila the risk of what became a deadly earthquake in April 2009.

The defendants included the deputy director of the Civil Protection Agency, Bernardo De Bernardinis, and prominent scientists Enzo Boschi, the former president of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology; and Giulio Selvaggi, the organization’s current head.

The defendants were charged with manslaughter and causing a disaster and serious bodily harm, not for failing to predict the earthquake per se, but rather on the grounds of reassuring residents that the danger was low and providing “inexact, incomplete, contradictory advice.”

Although prosecutors asked the court for sentences of four years, the judge handed down sentences of six years in prison for each defendant after.  In addition, they have been ordered to pay more than €9 million (£7.3 million) in damages, and each of the convicted may never hold public office again.

The trial was held in L’Aquila over the past year. Judge Marco Billi considered his verdict for four hours before reading the sentences to the court.

The defendants and their attorneys have expressed their intention to appeal.

Members of the scientific community, particularly fellow seismologists, have spoken out strongly against this ruling.  Seth Stein, an earth scientist at Northwestern University in Illinois, said “I think it’s very unfair and very stupid.  It reflects a kind of fundamental misunderstanding of what science can and can’t do.”

Others have suggested that this ruling will make scientists less likely to make safety calls in the future.  Physicist Luciano Mariani, current chair of the Major Risks Commission, claimed that the sentence “spells death for services rendered to the state by academics and professionals,” and elaborated that “[i]t is not possible to provide consultancy serenely, professionally and disinterestedly under such frenzied judicial and media pressure. This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world.”

Thomas Jordan, a professor at the University of Southern California, stated directly, “I’m afraid that many scientists are learning to keep their mouths shut.”

In protest, several members of Italy’s National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks resigned have resigned as of Tuesday.

Prior to the April 2009 quake, the seven held at a public meeting in response to a series of small temblors earlier that year at which they stated the unlikelihood that the shaking projected a larger quake, according to the Huffington Post.  This reassurance was backed by a claim by Bernardinis that the small temblors would discharge built up seismic energy, although even some the convicted seismologists found this statement scientifically inaccurate, according to Nature.  However, scientists generally agree that the likelihood of a large earthquake was low, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Several days later, during the early morning of April 6, a 6.3-magnitude quake struck, destroying medieval buildings in L’Aquila’s and killing 309 people, many who were sleeping, according to the International Herald Tribune.  Prosecutors alleged that at least 29 of the dead would have left the city if not for the defendants’ reassurances, according to Nature. More than three years later, L’Aquila is still recovering.

Relatives of the deceased victims of the quake cheered at the verdict, calling it “a tiny bit of justice.”

Marcello Petrelli, one of the defense attorneys described the verdict rather differently: “It’s a jaw-droppingly incomprehensible sentence in law and in its evaluation of the facts[; a] sentence that cannot avoid in-depth examination on appeal.”

For further information, please see:

Corriere – Minister Challenged: Six Years for Multiple manslaughter and Bodily Harm Over Reassurances about Strong Tremor – 23 October 2012

International Herald Tribune – Italy: Officials Quit Over Punishment of Quake Experts – 23 October 2012

ANSA – Earthquake Scientists get 6 Years in L’Aquila Ruling – 22 October 2012

Huffington Post – Earthquake Scientists Jailed Over ‘Inexact’ Statements Preceding 2009 L’Aquila Quake – 22 October 2012

The Independent – Italian Scientists Jailed for Six Years after Failing to Issue Warnings Ahead of Deadly L’Aquila Earthquake – 22 October 2012

International Herald Tribune – Italy Orders Jail Terms for 7 Who Didn’t Warn of Deadly Earthquake – 22 October 2012

Nature – Italian Court Finds Seismologists Guilty of Manslaughter – 22 October 2012