Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
The statute of limitations yesterday brought the long and painful legal process for the death of Stefano Biondo, a young disabled man from Syracuse, to a foreseen conclusion. He died on 11 January 2011 during a restraint manoeuvre. In 2018, Giuseppe Alicata, a nurse with the provincial health authority (ASP) of Syracuse accused of causing the young man’s suffocation, was sentenced at first instance to two years in prison and ordered to pay compensation to the victim’s family.
“With today’s ruling,” said Salvatore Lo Vecchio, the Biondo family’s lawyer, “which confirmed the civil provisions and sentenced the defendant and the civil party to pay damages to Stefano Biondo’s next of kin, the Court of Appeal of Catania, criminal section II, has confirmed the truth of the facts already established in the previous trial by the Court of Syracuse, and has delivered justice to the memory of the victim. Certainly,” Lo Vecchio continued, “nothing will ever bring Stefano back to the love of his family, but this decision is a fundamental step towards recognising his dignity and the suffering of his loved ones, renewed on the face – and especially in the eyes – of each of the many hearings in this tormented trial. At this moment our thoughts are solely with them, with Stefano’s family, who have faced this painful journey with dignity, never losing faith in the judiciary. For these reasons,” Lo Vecchio concluded, “today more than ever, we are ready and determined to face any further level of judgment.”
“After almost 16 years the ordeal ends,” said Rossana La Monica, Stefano’s sister, “and so does the agony of having to appear in a courtroom to ask for what should have been obvious: the truth about a vulnerable boy entrusted to those who should have protected and cared for him.” Rossana La Monica, Stefano’s sister and guardian as well as president of the Astrea Association, said: “There is no satisfaction in the face of a state that arrives out of breath, allowing time to extinguish criminal responsibility through the statute of limitations. However, the confirmation of the civil provisions reaffirms the validity of our case. The real loser today,” La Monica concluded, “is the judicial system, not us. Stefano will not return, but the indignation and pain of these 15 years and 10 months have turned into the strength of the Astrea Association, which will continue every day to fight for the rights of the most vulnerable, the fragile and the voiceless. Justice has arrived at the last possible moment, but for Stefano our battle for civilisation will never end.”
