by Nino Femiani
NAPOLI
Gian Domenico Caiazza (pictured below) knows the monstrosities well, having previously faced those of the Tortora trial. “There I understood that there are certain things in this country that cannot be done, period”. The undisputed protagonist in the courtrooms, for 5 years at the helm of the Criminal Chambers Union, was the defender of Ottaviano Del Turco, former Minister of Finance, former governor of Abruzzo, in a trial that ended with the demolition of the charges against the former trade unionist, but leaving him with a splash of mud on the lapel of his jacket.
“Del Turco lived this judicial affair as a gentleman overwhelmed by a deadly media-judicial machine can live it. I saw him defend himself with dignity and tenacity, but always with great respect even towards those who, especially in the first instance, made crazy accusations that destroyed his political career and private life”. In the first instance the Court of Pescara found the accusations founded. Ten years of imprisonment. The Court of Appeal of L’Aquila acquitted Del Turco: he did not take bribes, but left the criminal association and some, never proven, minor ‘bribes’. The Court of Cassation annulled the criminal association, but not the dark history of those bribes.
Sentences that are at times incomprehensible.
“Done to save face for the first-instance judges.”
On the sidelines of the Appeal you said: “We need not judges, but heroes who have the strength to establish that it was all an enormous, gross, unpardonable miscarriage of justice.” Are you still convinced of this?
“Today even more than yesterday. We faced the trial knowing that we were on the side of the truth, we defended ourselves from the accusations, point by point, with precision and determination. But we had to note that, in the first degree, there was a sentence already written. And in the subsequent degrees of judgment, which also demolished the investigation, some charges were kept standing to save face for the Pescara prosecutor’s office”.
Isn’t he too harsh on the prosecutors?
“Look, we started from an accusation of extortion for six and a half million euros, never found a trace of a euro in Ottaviano’s assets. A castle of accusations collapsed miserably, leaving standing only 3 hypotheses of bribes received out of 27. All this makes only one sense…”.
Which?
“To somehow save the investigation by humiliating Del Turco.”
After the first instance ruling, what was the reaction of the former Finance Minister?
“He suffered unspeakably, he felt humiliated by those same institutions that he had always respected. But we had already understood the message after the first two hearings. He remained combative, however, convinced that he would make his reasons heard in the other levels of judgment”.
What struck you about Del Turco’s behavior?
“He never missed an audience, he was always present, showing great strength of spirit. He listened attentively, but at the same time he drew.”
He did not give up his creative streak.
“He would arrive with lots of blank sheets of paper and a pencil. During those long hearings he was capable of making extraordinary sketches. He would listen and draw beautiful things, faces, objects. And in the most crucial moments of the trial, to lower the tension, he would ask me: “Do you like this drawing?””.
What remains of that case?
“That there can be nothing more violent than a state institution that does not respect the rules.”