The Court of Appeal of the Tribunal of Sassari has fully acquitted, "because the fact does not exist", Commissioner Manuela Cojana and five prison police officers accused of having taken part in two episodes of violence against an inmate in the Badu 'e Carros prison.
In the first instance, the six defendants had been sentenced to five months for aggravated injuries. The new sentence, pronounced by the panel presided over by Judge Salvatore Marinaro (assisted by Judges Serra and Delogu), completely overturned the outcome of the first trial, fully accepting the defense thesis of the lawyer Francesco Lai. The other acquitted officers are Maurizio Cappeddu, Angelino Mastrone, Giovanni Michele Mazzette, Jean Pierre Nieddu and Guido Nurchi, all defended by the lawyer Lai.
The facts
The investigation, coordinated by the Nuoro Public Prosecutor's Office, originated from a complaint filed in 2020 by the wife of Rade Nikolic, a high-security prisoner in Nuoro, who accused six officers and the prison commander of having attacked her husband in two separate episodes, on March 18 and 19 of the same year. According to the prosecution, Nikolic was kicked and punched first in his cell, then in a corridor during his exercise hour. The investigation also focused on the alleged passive-aggravating role of commander Cojana, who - according to the prosecution's hypothesis - witnessed the second attack, inciting her subordinates to avoid hitting him in the face so as not to leave obvious marks.
The stages of the procedure
The investigation was closed in 2022, and the subsequent referral to trial led to the abbreviated trial. In March 2023, the public prosecutor had requested a one-year prison sentence for each defendant, arguing that there was sufficient evidence, including statements from other inmates and medical reports that spoke of “compatible redness”. Already in the first instance, the defense attorney Lai had spoken of an accusatory system flawed by contradictions, with unreliable testimonies and a reconstruction deemed “generic”. The Court of Appeal has now fully agreed with the defense’s thesis: “The fact does not exist”. A formula that cancels all responsibility, confirming the defendants’ total lack of involvement in the contested facts. A sentence that fits into a context that is already favorable for Commissioner Cojana, recently reinstated by the Council of State after another administrative proceeding. The career of Commissioner Manuela Cojana, the first woman to direct the Badu 'e Carros penitentiary police department, has been marked by controversy. After being involved in other proceedings (one for abuse of office and forgery, which ended with acquittal; another for slander, which was dismissed), in 2021 she was removed from the management of the prison on charges of management inefficiencies and negligence in the transmission of a crime report. But even in this case, justice proved her right: in December, the Council of State ruled that the revocation of the position was illegitimate, ordering her reinstatement and recognizing damage to the manager's image.
