The Bergamo Prosecutor’s Office has closed, after three years of work, the investigation to elucidate the reasons why the Lombardy region became the most affected by the coronavirus
The ex Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the former head of Health Roberto Esperanza They are among the twenty judicially investigated by the management at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the north of Italywhich in February 2020 became the western focus of a virus that caused nearly 188,000 dead in the country.
The Bergamo Prosecutor’s Office (north) has closed, after three years of workthe investigation to elucidate the reasons why the Lombardy region, and especially the province of Bergamo, became the most affected by the pandemic in the entire country, and if behind this tragedy there was some kind of political responsibility.
In addition to Conte and Speranza, the President of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana; the president of the Higher Institute of Health, Silvio Brusaferro; the then head of Civil Protection, Angelo Borrellli, among other prominent personalities, according to local media.
Five Star Leader
“I find out from the press agencies the news related to the investigation in Bergamo. I immediately anticipate my maximum availability and collaboration with Justice,” said Conte after learning the first results of the investigation.
The former head of the Executive, who currently leads the Five Star Movement (M5S), He was “calm before the country and the Italian citizens for having acted with the utmost commitment and full sense of responsibility in one of the hardest moments experienced by our Republic”.
The then Minister of Health also expressed his “full confidence in the judiciary.” “I have always thought that whoever had responsibilities in managing the pandemic should be willing to be held accountable. I am very serene and sure that I have always acted with discipline and honor in the exclusive interest of the country. I fully trust, as always, in the judiciary “, indicated Speranza in a note.
For its part, the Association of Relatives of the victims who denounced the management of the pandemic before the Justice were grateful for the decision of the Bergamo Prosecutor’s Office.
“The magistrates have identified precise responsibilities in the management of the pandemic that involve the political and institutional sector. We have always fought for our loved ones despite the ‘omertá’ (silence) that this story has marked. This decision does not return us to our loved ones, but rather honors their memory,” they said.
Bergamo isolation
The investigation has tried to clarify why at the beginning of the pandemic several areas of the province of Bergamo were not isolated from the outset despite the fact that there was data certifying that the virus was already roaming the streets and hospitals of their municipalities.
It all started on February 21, chen the first case of contagion was confirmed in the nearby Lombardy municipality of Codogno. A day later, the Government isolated eleven outbreaks, ten towns in Lombardy, in the province of Lodi, and another in Veneto (northeast).
However, those in Nembro and Alzano, areas of high industrial concentration in the province of Bergamo and that would not be isolated until March 8, did not appear on that list, and the relatives of the victims in both towns denounced that during those two weeks the virus circulated freely, making the situation critical.