The final act of the evidentiary hearing into the Garlasco crime was held in the Pavia courthouse. Experts discussed in particular the male DNA extracted from the fingernails of two of Chiara Poggi's fingers, which the prosecutor's office and the investigating judge deemed compatible with that of Andrea Sempio or members of his paternal family line.
The presence of Stasi and the controversies
Andrea Sempio did not show up in the courtroom, but Alberto Stasi surprisingly arrived instead .
And there has been much controversy over the presence of Stasi, who was definitively convicted of the crime.
At today's hearing, Francesco Compagna, the Poggi family's attorney, requested that Alberto Stasi leave the courtroom because, as he is neither a suspect nor an injured party, he would not be eligible to appear. However, Judge Daniela Garlaschelli authorized his presence, citing Article 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides for the participation of other persons, in addition to the suspect and the injured party, "subject to the judge's prior authorization."
"I confess that I wasn't expecting Alberto Stasi to be present today. However , I didn't object, because it was the presence, albeit passive, of someone who had an interest in the completion of the trial . It didn't seem to me that there could be any objections to his presence," said Liborio Cataliotti, one of Andrea Sempio's lawyers .
Responding to a question about his client's absence, Cataliotti replied that "Andrea would not have been questioned, just as Stasi was not, and he would not have had the right to speak, just as Stasi did not. It was a technical-scientific hearing. Attorney Angela Taccia and I thought it was valuable that our experts were present. Our client's presence, however, was unnecessary, especially to avoid exposing him to the cameras. We are very satisfied with how the evidentiary hearing went."
