Nearly all charges have been dropped in the "Angels and Demons" trial, which alleges illegal foster care. The Bibbiano case, according to the decision of the judges of the Reggio Emilia collegiate court, has been reduced to three suspended sentences : two years for Federica Anghinolfi (on two counts), former head of the Val d'Enza Social Services, one year and eight months for social worker Francesco Monopoli, and five months for neuropsychiatrist Flaviana Murru. The judges also acquitted the 14 defendants, with some dismissed due to the statute of limitations.
The Reggio Emilia Prosecutor's Office had requested sentences of up to 15 years for over 100 charges, but the only sentences handed down by the collegiate court concerned three separate counts of forgery of public documents (two against Federica Anghinolfi, one against Francesco Monopoli) and a charge of revealing secrets pertaining to a criminal case against neuropsychiatrist Flaviana Murru. Specifically, for Anghinolfi, considered by the Reggio Emilia Prosecutor's Office to be a key figure in the "system," the forgeries involved a reason for reimbursement and another regarding budget expenses, while for Monopoli, a social worker, the forgery involved a report requested by the civil court for decisions regarding a minor.
"Today we know that there are no demons as opposed to angels, that our client is not a 'child thief' and that she has never acted for interests other than the overriding one of child protection," commented Federica Anghinolfi's lawyers, Oliviero Mazza and Rossella Ognibene. "This judicial truth repays us for our efforts, but it does not erase the media destruction of our client's image nor the irreparable and incalculable damage caused to the child protection system ."
(Unioneonline)
