Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
PALERMO – Gaetano Maranzano, the 29-year-old from Zen sentenced for the murder of 21-year-old Paolo Taormina—shot in the head outside his family’s pub in the Olivella district of Palermo—could be granted extraordinary leave to go to the cemetery and pray at his grandmother’s grave.
The Court of Cassation has in fact overturned the lower-court ruling that denied the prisoner’s request, ordering a fresh review of the application.
From denied visits to appeal upheld by the Supreme Court
Maranzano, currently held in Pagliarelli prison and whose name has also emerged in investigations into drug trafficking linked to Marinella drug lord Salvatore Verga, initially obtained permission from the preliminary investigations judge to visit his elderly relative when her health deteriorated. However, the meeting could not take place before her death.
After his grandmother’s passing, the young man submitted a new request to be with his family in their time of mourning or, failing that, to pay his respects at the cemetery:
- The lower courts’ refusal: Both the first-instance judge and the Court of Appeal rejected the application, arguing that once the burial had taken place the “exceptional nature of the event” no longer applied and that spiritual needs for prayer could be met within the prison.
- The Cassation’s decision: The 29-year-old’s defence team appealed to the judges of the Palazzaccio, who upheld the appeal, quashing the ban and remitting the case for a new assessment.
