The seven took part in a meeting six days prior to the quake and informed the public that the risk was low. The judge in the original 2012 case said the scientists had provided a "generic and ineffective" risk assessment. One of the seven, Bernardo De Bernardinis was not acquitted, but did have his sentence reduced to two years from the original six year sentences handed out to the group.
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The man accused of sending a group of scientists to the central Italian city of L'Aquila in 2009 to falsely reassure citizens that no major earthquake was about to strike has been cleared of manslaughter charges. Guido Bertolaso, who at the time was head of Italy's Civil Protection department, was acquitted by Judge Giuseppe Grieco on Friday on the grounds of "not having committed the crime." The verdict brings to an end 7 years of legal actions initiated by relatives of some of the 309 victims of the deadly earthquake that struck L'Aquila on 6 April 2009.
The trial of Bertolaso follows that of the scientists themselves—three seismologists, a volcanologist, two seismic engineers, and Bertolaso's deputy, Bernardo De Bernardinis—who all took part in a meeting of an official advisory committee held 6 days before the earthquake. The experts were prosecuted on manslaughter charges for having allegedly underestimated the risk posed by an ongoing series of small- and medium-sized tremors in and around L'Aquila, and of having given advice at the time of their meeting that led many people to stay indoors on the night of the deadly quake itself—and perish as a result.
That hugely controversial trial resulted in convictions and 6-year jail sentences for all seven scientists, but six of those convictions were overturned on appeal and then definitively quashed by Italy's supreme court last November. Only De Bernardinis had his conviction confirmed, albeit with a lesser 2-year sentence, which will remain suspended.
We previously discussed the scientists' trial here:
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=14/11/11/023245
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:15AM
Convicts can't be trusted! Hire more inscrutable Asians. I don't know what they're saying so they must be honest hard-working folk.
(Score: 2) by Ryuugami on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:10AM
I don't know what they're saying
As far as the politicians are concerned, you don't need Asians for that. Any scientist will do.
If a shit storm's on the horizon, it's good to know far enough ahead you can at least bring along an umbrella. - D.Weber
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:40AM
You don't even need language to establish trustworthiness. Scientists just sound uppity. Never trust an uppity egghead, I tells ya what.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday November 11 2014, @08:12AM
Appeals Court Acquitted
That just looks weird in a headline, unless it happened some time ago and has only just been revealed.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 11 2014, @09:03AM
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday November 11 2014, @09:15AM
The acquittal is not in the past of the story; it is the story. It's no more "happen[ing] in the past" than the approval of the super-spud:
USDA Approves Genetically-Engineered Super Potato
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @12:35PM
The acquittal has happened, and therefore gets the past tense.
The approval of the mutant spuds is an ongoing state and therefore gets the present tense. (although the past tense referring to the actual decision would also be correct)
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday November 11 2014, @03:37PM
A few more, then:
Scientists Discover Virus that Makes People Stupid
Military 'Near Misses' Rise Dramatically Between Russia And Nato
Twitter Suspends Indie Journalists
Open Source Offline Password Keeper Raises $48k in 4 days
Eric Raymond Writes a New Version Control System, Sort of
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:15PM
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday November 11 2014, @07:02PM
I disagree that past tense would work better. The convention of present tense in headlines allows for distinction "current" events and historical ones.
Can you find any big news outlet that routinely uses past tense for news headlines?
one can routine save a letter or two
I see what you didn't realise you did there :)
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Tuesday November 11 2014, @10:08AM
The point here is that the commission actively invited people to go back to their homes.
You know you can't predict an eartchquake, and they weren't convicted because they failed to predict one. Instead they were convicted for predicting there would be none. And actively telling people to go back to their lives, nothing to see here.
The problem with the comission's "outcome" is that is was not a "scientific" stance, it was purely political. The "scientists" sold their credibility to politicians, and the politicians needed people to go to work. They're a miserable bunch. Alas, they are just scapegoats.
There probably will be no justice for the victims of the earthquake, ever. But if my family died, I'd make sure that at the very least that the pawns pay. I can relate to that.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday November 11 2014, @05:27PM
As I recall they "predicted" that the probability of a severe earthquake in an earthquake-prone region was unaffected by a swarm of smaller quakes. That is a *very* different thing than predicting there wouldn't be an earthquake.
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Tuesday November 11 2014, @10:36PM
Nonetheless they urged people to go back to their homes.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday November 11 2014, @11:15PM
And? Those people had already accepted the risk of unannounced severe earthquakes catching them in their homes, as evidenced by the fact that they have homes there. If there's no evidence to suggest an impending quake, but people are nervous because of past ones, what would you suggest? That they make idiots of themselves by standing outside for a few weeks just in case?
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Wednesday November 12 2014, @05:35PM
Many people were already aleeping in their cars or tents for days. There's nothing "idiotic" about it. Some of my friends were sleeping in their car, and many poeple saved their lives because they didn't listen to the comission, who *urged them to go back to their homes*, and continued to stay in their cars at night. With your reasoning all of the people of California should just leave because we all know that sometime in the future bad things will hapen, those stupid fucks. Guess what? not gonna happen.
And yes, if you expect an earthquake to occur, you stay out, and definitely don't urge people to go back to their work and their homes.
Also, IIRC increased seismic activity *does* indicate increased probability of
Let me recap what happened:
1. Tremors were freaking people out
2. Politicians needed poeple to go back to their work (you know, keep the economy rolling)
3. Politicians appointed a comission of "experts" (or "scientists") to tell them "guess what? you can't predict earthquakes. now back to work."
4. The "experts" said that "you can't predict earthquakes, now go back to work."
5. A major earthquake occured, killing more than it'd kill if it wasn't for the "experts"
You probably can't go after the constructors making homes with seasand instead of cave sand, the exact politicians that appointed the commision, and the whole chain of responsibilities leading to much of the deaths.
But if you can at least get to the puppets, that's at least some kind of consolation. Certainly not justice, but at least it's something.
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(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday November 12 2014, @06:52PM
No, I'm all for people living in California, it has a lot going for it. Just don't go trying to blame anyone else when the inevitable happens - you made your choice knowing the risks, you pay the price if and when nature decides to collect on your account. Your suffering punishes the only person to blame for it.
Now if these scientists actually had evidence that a more serious quake was looming then they betrayed their professional integrity and should pay the price, if only to discourage future puppets from lying through their teeth - but let's be sure to make economists and other such "puppet experts" pay a similar price when their predictions go south. After all their predictions (and the policies based on them) do at least as much damage both economically and in terms of human lives.
If on the other hand their prediction was legitimate, well then you're just looking for some good old fashioned random retribution and we should bring back witch trials. or human sacrifice. Hurricane levels New Orleans? Lets round up a dozen random people, blame them for the hurricane, and execute them to appease the gods for our amusement.