The judge of the Court of Appeal, Sassari section, Marina Capitta (alongside Marongiu and Caleffi), confirmed the first degree acquittal sentence for Marco Bertolino, 56 years old, and Salvatore Signoriello, 72 years old, respectively former director and former CEO of the E.On Fiume Santo thermoelectric power plant.
For the former plant manager Bertolino, the charges of competing environmental disaster were dropped because "the fact does not exist". While for the CEO Signoriello the sentence "of no place to proceed" was confirmed. In particular, Bertolino was accused of malicious environmental pollution in the soil, subsoil and waters of the Gulf of Asinara. Handcuffs were also placed against him in 2015. The CEO Signoriello had been banned from his role for two months. The head of the Bertolino plant had chosen the shortened procedure.
According to the prosecution, «by mutual agreement and with a single purpose they had not reported continuous spills of fuel oil of which they had been aware for at least two years. An accident also occurred: a fifty thousand liter tank had detached from the bottom, causing continuous leaks which would have been hidden so as not to cause damage to the company."
Civil parties are the Ministry of the Environment, Municipality of Porto Torres, WWF Italy and the Committee to protect the Gulf of Asinara, represented by the lawyers: Francesco Caput, Fabrizio Bionda, Gianmichele Sideri and Pina Zappetto.