GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2021) Italy's committee of relatives of coronavirus victims, Noi Denunceremo ("We will go to court"), seeks to open a criminal case against authorities over what they deem as inadequate response to the pandemic, president of the committee Luca Fusco told Sputnik.
The committee was formed in April 2020 in Bergamo, Lombardy, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy during the first wave. Relatives of the victims claim that both the central government and local authorities failed to take adequate actions in response to the emergency.
Last year, the legal team of the committee initiated a civil case, with the hearing expected in April 2021. Currently, the committee is also working on the possibility of bringing authorities to account under criminal law.
According to Fusco, for now the committee has distanced itself from the lawyers, though they will continue to work on the civil case to get compensation for damages. However, not all members of Noi Denunceremo believe that this measure will be effective.
"Many ... do not trust the Italian justice system and believe that compensation for damages will never arrive. So it is better to focus on the criminal aspect of the case, because criminal law in Italy is faster, and it also gives the possibility to a victim ... to ask for compensation of damages not to the state or ministries, but directly to the people who made mistakes," the committee's head clarified.
In late January, the committee uploaded a form on its website that can be filled in by relatives of COVID-19 victims seeking to launch criminal complaint. Fusco informed Sputnik that the committee has already filed about 250 criminal complaints and has received 250 more that still need to be reviewed from all parts of Italy.
Fusco noted that the civil case hearing has been scheduled for April 14, while the criminal case will be able to proceed after the withdrawal of reservations on the part of Bergamo judges and indictment of people under investigation, which will happen in summer.
"We have brought to the attention of the prosecutor a series of documents proving that the Italian state and Europe have committed major mistakes in the management of the epidemic ... Now it is up to the judges to decide ... if there are the elements of the crime," Fusco said.
The Noi Denunceremo president also stressed that the management of the current vaccination campaign by the Italian and European authorities has been inadequate. He believes that faced with the vaccine supply shortfalls, the governments should begin accepting other safe vaccines, such as Russia's Sputnik V.
Italy's Lombardy has been hit the hardest since the start of the pandemic, registering a total of 704,000 cases of infection � nearly twice as much as Veneto, which occupies the second spot by COVID-19 numbers with 370,000 cases. Nearly 30,000 died in the region.
