The hearing was held at 12.30 in Rome but well before, since 11, in Burcei and in front of the entrance to the offices of the Court of Appeal in the capital, friends, acquaintances and representatives of the institutions gathered to make their his closeness to the prisoner and fellow villager Beniamino Zuncheddu .
For the former shepherd, 58 years old, who has been in prison for 32 years and has been definitively convicted as the recognized perpetrator of the triple crime committed in the Sinnai mountains on 8 January 1991 (he has always denied this, declaring himself a stranger and innocent), today is a day important, with the judges called to decide on the admission of witnesses in the review procedure of the trial resulting in the conviction and also on the request for suspension of the sentence . Judicial process officially started three years ago and which however has taken few steps since then.
And finally, after three years of slow progress, the revision process began. This afternoon the Court of Appeal of Rome admitted as evidence all the witnesses indicated by the Capitoline general prosecutor and by the lawyer Mauro Trogu , the prisoner's defender, and ordered the acquisition of the original case file , papers kept in the Court of Assizes in Cagliari. It begins on October 13th with a friend of the Faddas and the carabiniere who was the first to collect the testimony of the survivor in the ambulance who, the morning after the crimes, said he had not recognized the murderer because his face was covered by women's tights ; version changed 40 days later. And, 32 years later, deemed unreliable by the detectives and investigators of Cagliari.
THE DEMONSTRATIONS – This morning two sit-ins were held to support Zuncheddu's cause : the first in the condemned man's hometown , in the presence of many fellow citizens and the mayor; the second outside the Palace of the Court of Appeal with representatives of the Radical party on the initiative of the treasurer Irene Testa, who also plays the role of guarantor of prisoners for Sardinia. Among them also Gaia Tortora , journalist for the television station La7 and daughter of Enzo, a well-known television presenter and protagonist of one of the most sensational and scandalous Italian judicial errors.
«The Radical party was Enzo Tortora's party», recalls Testa, «he said he was lucky because he was a well-known person and had the means to defend himself, while the poor and unknown could not do so. Beniamino Zuncheddu is part of the second category. This is why Gaia's participation is beautiful and significant. I hope that the initiative, which will not stop today, will bring out the truth . The story gives goosebumps, moves and angers. It almost makes you fear justice, sometimes too long and not fair. It raises questions: a person has been in prison for 32 years on the basis of flimsy evidence. I heard the interceptions of the survivor of the massacre", on whose testimony (defined as "unreliable" by the former general prosecutor of Cagliari who filed, together with the lawyers Mauro Trogu, Zuncheddu's defender, the request for review), the sentenced to life imprisonment, «and there is no doubt that Beniamino told the truth and said he was innocent . And then either the whole country has gone crazy, with citizens, the mayor and even those who didn't know him personally coming to demonstrate, or there really is something wrong. The process has been on hold for three years: it seems too long. In Italy there are around 1000 unjust detentions, perhaps due to superficial investigations or the need to find a culprit. Zuncheddu was not the first nor will he be the last. But I'm optimistic. There are many judges who do their job well."