A carabiniere who causes a road accident with injuries because he is drunk, even if off duty, brings the Arma into disrepute and must be punished, even on the disciplinary front. This was decided by the Council of State, which confirmed the validity of all the measures adopted against a chief marshal on duty in Sardinia who in 2009, with a blood alcohol content of 2.16 (more than four times the limit), at the helm of the his car swerved into the oncoming lane and collided with another vehicle. The occupants ended up in the hospital.
For that matter the soldier had also been convicted in the first two levels of judgment of a criminal trial, then the Cassation had overturned the verdict due to the statute of limitations.
And it is on this that the marshal had based part of the reasons for his appeal: he had not accepted the suspension from service for two months that had been inflicted on him by the Arma. In his appeal he claimed that he had not been convicted. And that the accident had occurred when he was out of uniform, so much so that in the initial stages he hadn't even qualified as a carabiniere.
For the judges, his motivations are not valid: «The matter in question is contrary to the exemplary nature of the conduct», reads the sentence, «and is in contrast with the duties pertaining to military status and the rank held, damaging the prestige of the Carabinieri, with the consequence that any consideration regarding the criminal irrelevance of the fact is irrelevant".
Furthermore, for the constituency of Palazzo Spada «there is no illegitimate treatment that is more severe for the carabinieri than for the other soldiers, since the members of the Arma, in addition to having military status and carrying out military police activities, are also physiologically and for mostly employed in carrying out judicial police and public security activities, so that, being in closer contact with citizens, they have a more intense obligation of behavioral rectitude outside the service". Above all , "the military of all ranks must also maintain a serious and decent conduct in private life" and "refrain from excessive use of alcoholic beverages".
