THEn the occasion of the first hearing, this morning in Brescia, for the request to review of the process requested by Rosa Bazzi and Olindo Romanotonight at 9.20pm on Rai 3 goes on air Rosa and Olindo, the last sentence. Special episode of the historic broadcast A day in court – conducted and created by Roberta Petrelluzzi – which will retrace the judicial history of the Romano spouses, sentenced tolife sentence for the “Erba massacre”. When, in 2006, four people lost their lives in atrocious ways: the young woman Raffaella Castagnason Youssef Marzoukthe mother Paola Galli and the neighbor Valeria Cherubini.
A day in court: the special Rosa and Olindo, the last sentence
After final sentence in 2011 to life imprisonment of Rosa Bazzi and Olindo Romano, in recent years many have questioned the ruling. In fact, despite the three levels of judgement, where over 30 judges considered them guilty, an “innocentist” current has increasingly taken hold. Fueled by the Romano spouses themselves who continue to shout their innocence from prison.
For years, the lawyers of Rosa and Olindo have been asking for a review of the trial on the Erba massacre to prove not only the innocence of the spouses but above all to demonstrate how the two, according to the lawyers, were victims of the biggest and most sensational miscarriage of justice in Italian criminal history. After many unsuccessful attempts, the Brescia prosecutor’s office accepted the requests of the defense lawyers, agreeing to the request for bring new evidence that would exonerate the Romanos.
This evening, A day in court compares the reasons that led to their conviction with those for which today their acquittal is requested. A special episode, therefore, to examine the most controversial points which are the basis of the request for review.
The Erba massacre
AND a cold December evening in 2006 when in the small village of Erba, on the outskirts of Como, a fire breaks out in an apartment on via Diaz, close to the historic center. The firefighters who arrive first on the scene find an injured man on the stairs of the building, Mario Frigerioand after entering the burning apartment, they discover the corpse of the young Raffaella Castagna.
While they are helping the man, a female voice comes from upstairs: it is that of Valeria CherubiniFrigerio’s wife, but they are forced to interrupt the rescue efforts because the flames are too threatening. Once the fire was put out, the firefighters returned to the building and found three bodies: Cherubini – who died in the meantime from carbon monoxide fumes –, Paola Galli (mother of Raffaella Castagna) and little Youssef, son of Raffaella and her Tunisian husband Azouz Marzouk. However, the child and the grandmother did not die as a result of the fire: they did killed brutally, with knives and bars.
The first suspicions gather on Azouz but the man has an iron alibi: in those days he was in Tunisia with his family. In the meantime, Frigerio survives and returns from the hospital a shocking statement to the police: i responsible for the carnage are Olindo Romano and Rosa Bazzian (unsuspected) married couple who lives on the ground floor of the building.
Olindo Romano and Rosa Bazzi at the Court of Como in an episode of “Un giorno in pretura”. (HANDLE)
Spouses Olindo Romano and Rosa Bazzi
Without friends, closed within their four walls but above all full of resentment towards Raffaella Castagna – the woman reported them repeatedly –, Olindo and Rosa lived on the floor below the home of Castagna and Marzouk. And they continually complained about the alleged noise which, according to them, came from the Castagna house and which did not let them sleep.
He is an ecological operator, she is a housewife, the Romanos are soon suspected of the massacre. After a thorough examination, the investigators find a bloodstain from Valeria Cherubini in Olindo’s car and, also thanks to the declaration of the survivor Frigerio, the couple is arrested.
Two days later, before the magistrates, the Romanos confess, shouldering the entire responsibility separately, and describe the individual murders in minute detail, the type of wounds, the location of the victims’ bodies and the type of weapons used. But most of all they provide details knowable only by those who had experienced the scene of the crime in the first person. After a few days, however, the Romanos recant, accusing the carabinieri of having extorted a false confession from them with the promise that they would spend a few years in prison but in one “double” cell“.
Despite the retraction, for the judges of the Como court the guilt of Rosa and Olindo is beyond any reasonable doubt: they are sentenced to life imprisonment. Sentence confirmed by subsequent levels of judgement. The case of the Erba massacre thus seems concluded. But the Romanos don’t give up and today, more than ten years after their conviction, their lawyers obtained a court hearing to determine whether or not to reopen the trial.
The request for review of the process
Before the Court of Appeal of Brescia, Rosa and Olindo’s lawyers this morning presented the new elements that they believe are sufficient for the reopening of the case. And, at the end of the hearings, the judges will decide whether they exist the conditions for celebrating a new trial. But on what elements is the Romano request based?
Azouz Marzouk and his lawyer Solange Marchignoli in Brescia to attend the hearing on the request for review of the trial against Rosa Bazzi and Olindo Romano. (HANDLE)
The first element to be questioned is Olindo’s recognition by the only survivor (and only witness): Mario Frigerio. In fact, man, at first, he provided a description that did not correspond to the figure of Olindo. Other item: the trace of Valeria Cherubini’s blood found in the Romanos’ car. According to the defenders, she was contaminated.
In the end the testimony of Abdi Kaisat the time a friend of Raffaella Castagna and Azouz Marzouk, and who had reported on a feud between a group of Tunisians and one of Moroccans for issues related to drug dealing. “Activities” in which Castagna’s husband was involved at the time of the events.
This is the “defensive” framework proposed by the Romano lawyers. And after the hearing? There are two possible scenarios: the judges can decide to immediately reject the request of the defense or admit the revision and the choice of new witnesses to be heard in court. In case the trial is reopenedit could even lead to acquittal and release by Olindo Romano and Rosa Bazzi.
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