She left without much ceremony, with the sobriety that has always distinguished her in her mandate at the helm of the most prestigious judicial office in Sardinia and, previously, in her career as a judge. For a few days now, Gemma Cucca, 70 years old, is no longer the president of the Court of Appeal of Cagliari: she retired due to age limits, as required by law, at the end of a long militancy in the ranks of the judiciary. The now ex-president vacated the large office, saying goodbye and thanking the employees and colleagues who worked with her for almost eight years.
The questions
But the question that everyone has been asking for a few days now, both in the corridors of the Palace of Justice and in those of the Region, is only one: will there be repercussions on the case being defined before the Court on the appeal of the governor Alessandra Todde against the order-injunction of the Electoral Guarantee Board (chaired by Cucca himself)? In recent months, in fact, the supervisory body had sanctioned (with a majority vote) the leader of the center-left with 40 thousand euros and the transmission of the provision to the Regional Council for possible forfeiture, contesting irregularities in the reporting of the expenses of the campaign for the February 2024 vote. The question is legitimate because the former number one of the Court had decided to resist the appeal of the lawyers of the president Todde by relying on an internal defense: the member of the board Riccardo Fercia, professor of Roman law and lawyer, and the director Daniela Muntoni. No assignment, therefore, to the State Attorney's Office.
The rumors
In these hours, the rumor is filtering that both defenders of the Electoral Guarantee Board could be replaced by the State Attorney, even if, on this hypothesis, an opinion of the State Attorney General, Gabriella Palmieri Sandulli, would weigh, released when she announced that she will represent the State (as decided by the Council of Ministers on March 28, 2025) in the July hearing before the Constitutional Court, requesting the inadmissibility of the appeal for the conflict of attribution raised by the Region. «The Regional Electoral Guarantee Board at the Court of Appeal of Cagliari», it reads, «must be considered a state body only when it exercises its functions in relation to the elections of the Italian Parliament. It is no longer such, however, when it carries out its supervisory functions in relation to the elections of the Regional Council of Sardinia». Another, more complex, hypothesis is that the regional legal office is involved, but this last path would also be complicated since the regional lawyers are appointed to the Consulta, in this case to support the appeal of the Regional Council. According to one of the president's lawyers, Benedetto Ballero, "there will be no repercussions on this proceeding. Rather, with the new composition of the guarantee board, there could be in the future with regards to a possible appeal against the decision of the ordinary court which, as we hope, should give us reason".
The appeal to the Court
The deadline imposed by the panel of the Civil Court of Cagliari led by Judge Gaetano Savona (supported by colleagues Francesco De Giorgi and Bruno Malagodi) for the conclusions on the electoral appeal against the 40 thousand euro fine and the request for forfeiture advanced by the governor's lawyers (Benedetto and Stefano Ballero, Giuseppe Macciotta and Priamo Siotto) expires on May 2. Numerous parties have appeared at the first hearing, several in support of President Todde and others in support of the order-injunction of the Electoral Guarantee Board. The opinion of the Public Prosecutor's Office is also highly anticipated and must be formalized by next Friday by Deputy Prosecutor Guido Pani and Deputy Diana Lecca. The final hearing, however, is set for May 22.
Francis Pinna