At the end of the day Claudio Sterpin, light gray pinstriped jacket and tie, remains firm in his position: Sebastiano Visintin "knows everything that happened" to Liliana . And he repeats it once he leaves the courthouse in Trieste, after the evidentiary incident that lasted over 5 hours in front of the investigating judge Flavia Mangiante.
The aim was to collect and crystallize the testimony of the 86-year-old, in particular on the relationship between him and Liliana Resinovich. An affectionate friendship that Sterpin had already spoken about in the days following the discovery of Liliana's body - on January 5, 2022 in the woods of the former psychiatric hospital - and which had never convinced her husband, Sebastiano Visintin, now under investigation for the woman's murder .
Sterpin hopes that he is not the culprit: «I hope so for him», he says. And again: «Only one person does not do that job. She was taken there. Already with two, at night, it is problematic. It is likely that Visintin is covering for someone, but it is not up to me to say» .
The first long-distance argument between the two men had already started in the morning. Before entering the courthouse , Sebastiano, carrying his bike by hand, approached Claudio near a bar and asked him for "respect for Liliana." Sterpin didn't reply and continued on his way, then he stressed to journalists that he had always shown respect for the woman. After Lilly's disappearance, he added, "everyone looked for her except one," referring to her husband. "He didn't care about going to look for her because he knew she wouldn't come back."
There would have been no further contact between Sterpin and Visintin. In the corridor of the courthouse, before the hearing, they sat far apart from each other. Sebastiano, with his head bowed, did not make any statements. In room 290 of the courthouse, the 86-year-old gave his testimony, answering the questions of the prosecutor in charge of the case, Ilaria Iozzi, of the injured parties and of the defense: "I reiterated what I have always said - the man clarifies - there is one version" . No dramatic turn of events, therefore.
Most of the questions, as far as we know, were asked by the prosecutor. Some details were established on the friendship between Claudio and Liliana, but also information relating to the marital relationship between the woman and Visintin . The testimony, explains Sterpin's lawyer, Giuseppe Squitieri, was given with "calmness and lucidity, in the even intense cross-examination of the parties, but fair and correct; all six statements he had previously made were retraced, on all the profiles and situations".
Sterpin would have pointed out elements experienced first-hand, differentiating them from those reported by third parties. "The witness answered all the questions - says the chief prosecutor, Patrizia Castaldini, present in the courtroom - the story was absolutely linear and coherent". "It was a long but fluent examination", adds Federica Obizzi, lawyer of Liliana's niece, Veronica Resinovich.
Visintin's defense has a different opinion: "We would have expected a 360-degree investigation from the Prosecutor's Office and not a one-way one. The prosecutor's questions were only aimed at reconstructing the love story between Sterpin and Liliana, therefore at building the motive. They highlighted little about Sterpin's contradictions" , observes Alice Bevilacqua, who with Paolo Bevilacqua defends Visintin.
(Online Union)
