Four financiers and two Coast Guard soldiers are the dependents of whom the Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic of Crotone, Pasquale Festa, issued the notice of conclusion of the preliminary investigations into the delays in the rescue of the gulet "Summer Love", loaded with migrants , whose shipwreck, in Steccato di Cutro, on the night of February 26, 2023, caused the death of 94 people, including 35 children , and an unknown number of missing people.
The alleged crimes against the six suspects are negligent shipwreck and multiple manslaughter .
The suspects are Giuseppe Grillo , shift chief of the operations room of the Vibo Valentia provincial command of the Guardia di Finanza and of the Roan, the air and naval operations department of the yellow flames; Alberto Lippolis , commander of the Roan of Vibo Valentia; Antonino Lopresti , officer in command and tactical control in the Roan of Vibo Valentia; Nicolino Vardaro , commander of the Taranto air-naval group; Francesca Perfido , inspection officer serving in the Italian maritime rescue coordination center in Rome, and Nicola Nania , inspection officer in the secondary maritime rescue center in Reggio Calabria.
The presence of the gulet, we read in a press note released by the Prosecutor's Office, had been "promptly reported by Frontex" . The investigation had the aim of «ascertaining why no vessel belonging to the authorities responsible for controlling the territorial sea was in that area to intercept the gulet, probably loaded with many migrants».
A massacre that could therefore have been avoided, as Elly Schlein and Matteo Renzi underlined after the conclusion of the investigations.
The Prosecutor's Office states that " profiles of negligence in implementing the rules that European and national legislation imposes in such cases" have been highlighted against the suspects.
The profiles of guilt hypothesized against the financiers «essentially concern the executive methods of the actions to be carried out following the sighting of the vessel. In particular, the failure to fully communicate the navigation difficulties encountered due to weather and sea conditions was contested, as was the delay in preparing the gulet's intercept operations, in the absence of effective and effective radar monitoring".
As for the members of the Coast Guard, we read further, «the dispute revolves around the failure to acquire the information necessary to have an effective picture of what the Financial Police was doing. There is a lack of acquisition which resulted in a poor assessment of the operational scenario and the consequent instructions to be given to the Coast Guard vessels which were also in a position to intervene".
(Unioneonline/L)
