The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Italy for the death of Riccardo Magherini, which occurred in Florence on the night of March 3, 2014, while he was lying on the ground, restrained by Carabinieri officers. The judges wrote in their ruling that the Italian state is responsible for his death because there was no "absolute necessity" to keep him restrained. The Court did not address the Carabinieri's responsibility or their acquittal at the end of the proceedings held in Italy.
The "guidelines in force at the time did not contain clear and adequate instructions on placing people in the prone position to minimize risks to their health and life," and "law enforcement officers lacked training to ensure they possessed the necessary level of competence in using restraint techniques, such as the prone position, which could endanger life," the Strasbourg Court explains. The ECHR ruled that the Italian state must pay the family €140,000 in non-pecuniary damages and €40,000 in legal costs.
The death of Magherini
Magherini, a former footballer then 39, died of cardiac arrest while, after being arrested, the Carabinieri held him down. According to the investigation , Magherini was suffering from a panic attack that night, partly due to drug use. Before being arrested, he had argued with a taxi driver and some residents and had broken the glass door of a bar. At that point, the Carabinieri arrived. The Supreme Court of Cassation acquitted the three officers, finding them not responsible for the death.
"It is an enormously important ruling, from a legal and political point of view," commented Fabio Anselmo, the lawyer representing the Magherini family. "The proceedings had been qualified by the ECHR so that the ruling would have conditioned the Italian state to adopt an ad hoc law or change its jurisprudence for subsequent cases," and "now the conviction must oblige the state" to do this.
"Today is a day when justice is served for Riccardo and for all of us," said his brother Andrea, standing beside his father Guido. "What we have always wanted is for Riccardo to emerge from this with his head held high. It's important for us and it's important for Brando, Riccardo's son. Today, the European Court's ruling speaks for itself, and speaks on all fronts, regarding the arrest and the investigation. It's a historic moment ." "We hope this ruling will be important for the training of police forces," he added. "We are relieved, even as Italian citizens, because it couldn't have been a normal arrest, because that's not how it should be done; a person's life is crucial and must be saved. In this specific case, at that moment, Riccardo should have been turned around and allowed to breathe ." "We are 100% satisfied, not from Italy but from Europe," said Guido Magherini. "We are happy, and at the same time, our anger has increased given the way they behaved." We knew they had done things that were not appropriate for the uniform they were wearing. The sentence says certain things that make us worry and tear our hair out."
The ECHR's conviction will become final in three months if the parties do not request and obtain a review of the case before the Grand Chamber of the ECHR.
The process
The three Carabinieri officers who intervened to arrest Riccardo Magherini were convicted in the first and second instance of the death. They were given sentences ranging from eight to seven months for manslaughter. Two Red Cross volunteers who intervened to help the man were acquitted by the court. In its ruling dated October 19, 2017, the Court of Appeal wrote: "Cocaine intoxication is undisputed," "but in itself it would not have led to his death given the absence of cardiac alterations attributable to cocaine use," "just as the forced prone position alone would not have led to his death."
"But," it continues, "the holding and immobilizing of Magherini, who was seriously and, above all, obviously impaired, in a prone position that prevented him from receiving the oxygen he needed, was lethal for him." A year later, on November 15, 2018, the Court of Cassation overturned the convictions, ordering the annulment of the appeal without referral, acquitting the three soldiers because "the act does not constitute a crime."
According to the Supreme Court, Magherini's death was "not foreseeable, because law enforcement lacked the specific expertise" in arresting people in such a physical and mental state. In the court's opinion, the officers—to prevent the victim's death by placing him in a sitting position so he could breathe better—"should have foreseen and concretely foreseen a scenario of harmful consequences for the human body, which only the scientific knowledge brought to the trial through in-depth medical examinations revealed." But this type of "foresight," the Supreme Court writes, "was not required" by the Carabinieri, who intervened "in the limited time frame within which the charge of failure to act was based and in which they found themselves operating."
(Unioneonline/D)
