A new twist has emerged in the third appeal trial for the double homicide of friends William Tani , 33, and Giuliano Milanovic , 24, who disappeared without a trace on February 11, 2007.

The verdict has been overturned once again: the judges have handed down a 12-year prison sentence to Gianluca Casula , a 51-year-old tobacconist from Carbonia, who has long lived in Germany. This time, unlike the first-instance conviction that was later overturned, the conviction was found to be double voluntary homicide.

In the first trial, the tobacconist was sentenced to 14 years for manslaughter, but was later acquitted on appeal. The Supreme Court overturned the decision, but then granted a second acquittal in the second appeal. The Supreme Court again overturned the conviction, remanding the case to a different appellate court.

Now, the third trial before the Court of Assizes of Appeal, yet another dramatic turn of events, with the 12-year sentence granted at the request of Public Prosecutor Danilo Tronci, who conducted the investigation and which was then applied by the Attorney General's Office.

According to the prosecution, it was the defendant who lured the two into a trap and then made their bodies disappear , thus paying off a debt of approximately 15,000 euros he owed to one of the victims. The bodies of the two were never found.
The tobacconist is being defended by lawyers Gianluca and Marco Aste. The victims' families joined the civil action, with lawyers Marco Bacchis, Alessandro Corrias, and Alessandra Ferrara expressing their satisfaction with the decision. The defense will await the reasoning before filing another appeal in cassation.