Stefano Cucchi

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Stefano Cucchi was an Italian geometer whose death became a case of crime news. Thirty-year-old Stefano Cucchi died in detention in Rome, on the 22nd of October, 2009. This fact spawned a well-known case of judicial reporting involving prison officers, some doctors from the prison of Regina Coeli, and some carabinieri...

Facts

On the 15th of October 2009 Stefano Cucchi was halted by some carabinieri after being seen giving a transparent packet to Emanuele Mancini in exchange for a banknote. He was immediately taken to the police station, searched and found in possession of 12 wrappers of different dimensions containing hashish (amounting to 21 grams), three wrappers of cocaine (one dose each), a tablet of chemically inert substance and a medical tablet (Stefano was epileptic). He was therefore detained.

In that day Stefano had no physical trauma, weighted 43 kilograms, measured 162 cm and had a body mass index of 16,4 (meaning malnutrition). The day after, he was tried with no preliminary hearings. During the trial, he already had difficulty walking and talking, and his eyes showed clear haematomas. Stefano talked to his father a few minutes before the audience, but didn't tell him he was beaten.

Indifferent to his precarious situation, the judge scheduled a new audience for a few weeks later, and ordered Stefano to be kept in custody in the Regina Coeli prison. Cucchi's health conditions get worse after the audience, so he was taken to the Fatebenefratelli Hospital. There, the doctors completed a medical report: he had hematomas on his legs, face, abdomen and thorax; a jug-bone fracture; a bladder haemorrhage; and two bone fractures on his vertebral column. Hospitalisation was required, but he refused it.

His condition worsened in prison and he died on the 22nd of October 2009 in the hospital Sandro Pertini, weighting just 37 kilograms. After the first hearing, Stefano's relatives tried to see him, or at least get some information about his physical state, but it seemed impossible. After Stefano's death they were notified to authorize his autopsy.

The investigations

After Stefano Cucchi's death, the prison staff denied having committed violence on the young inmate, so different assumptions on his death were made: he might have died for drug abuse, pre-existing physical conditions, or for having refused the hospitalisation in Fatebenefratelli hospital. Carlo Giovanardi, Secretary of State at that time, declared that Stefano Cucchi died for anorexia and drug addiction, also stating that the prisoner was HIV-positive. Lately, Carlo Giovanardi apologised to Cucchi family for his declarations. While the different assumptions on Stefano's cause of death were being made, his family issued some pictures of Stefano, taken in the morgue, showing different injuries (his swollen face, the fractured jug-bone and the damaged teeth), and an evident state of malnutrition.

During the investigation, a witness declared that Stefano confessed him to have been beaten up; also Annamaria Costanzo, another prisoner, states that he told her the same thing. Silvana Cappuccio personally saw the agents violently hitting Stefano.

Preliminary investigations indicated that Stefano's death was due to a consistent hypoglycemia which had not been treated. It has also been observed that Stefano's hepatic function was altered, and that there was an obstruction in a Foley catheter, which prevented him from urination (when he died, his bladder contained 1.400 cc of urine, which compressed abdomen and thorax structures). Hypoglycemia could have been treated through glucose administration.

According to the investigations, prison guard officers Nicola Minichini, Corrado Santantonio and Antonio Dominici acted cruelly towards Stefano in the security cells of the tribunal in Rome before the hearing to validate his detention. It seems they threw Stefano onto the ground causing him thorax injuries, and kept on kicking and punching him. The three guards have been investigated together with Aldo Fierro (chief physician), Stefania Corbi e Rosita Caponnetti, the three doctors from Sandro Pertini hospital suspected to not having treated their patient and left him dying of starvation. They maintained that Stefano refused the treatments.

On the 6th of November 2009, 925 grams of hashish and 133 grams of cocaine were found in the apartment owned by the Cucchi family, where Stefano occasionally lived. Stefano's family itself communicated to the magistrate the recovery of the drug. According to the lawyers, this behaviour highlights the willingness of the family to collaborate with the investigators to ascertain the causes of Stefano's death. On the 14th of November 2009 the public prosecutor's office contested the negligent homicide charge pending on the three doctors, and the manslaughter charge pending on the three prison guard officers.

On the 27th of November a parliamentary committee for investigation was convened to analyse the cases of medical mistakes within the Pertini hospital prisoners ward, and concluded that Stefano Cucchi died of therapeutic abandonment. On the 30th of April 2010 the public prosecutor's office notified the doctors of not aiding and abetting, desertion of disabled person, abuse of office and falsification. The agents were notified of bodily harm and abuse of office. Overall, thirteen people were sent to trial. Negligent homicide and manslaughter charges lapsed.

On the 13th of December 2012, during the retrial, the consultants named by the tribunal established that Stefano Cucchi died for non-performance of medical treatment, for lack of nourishment and liquids. They also affirmed that the injuries found post-mortem might be the result of a beating or of an accidental fall, and that "there are not enough proof to suggest one reason to be more plausible than the other".

Judgments

First instance

On the 5th of June 2013 the III Corte d'Assise sentenced four doctors and the chief physician of Sandro Pertini hospital for negligent homicide, to 1 year and 4 months and 2 years of imprisonment, respectively; a doctor to 8 months for falsification; whereas 6 among nurses and prison guards were acquitted. According to the judges they were not involved in Stefano's death.

The desertion of disabled person charge pending on the doctors was transformed into negligent homicide. The prosecution requested imprisonment between 5 years and a half and 6 years and 8 months for them. A punishment amounting to 4 years of imprisonment had been demanded for the nurses; and a 2-year-long one for the prison guards. The charges pending on them were personal injuries and abuse of authority.

Appeal hearing

On the 31st of October 2014, a decision made by the Appellate court in Rome acquitted all the defendants, doctors included. Consequently, the Cucchi family lawyer announced a plea to the Supreme court of Cassation, while Stefano's sister Ilaria stated that she had asked the State's attorney, Pignatone, to investigate. Their meeting was held on the 3rd of November and, according to Ilaria, the attorney would have checked all the investigation acts since the beginning

Supreme Court of Cassation

On the 15th of December 2015, the Supreme Court of Cassation ordered the partial reversion of the appeal, commanding a new process for 5 doctors out of 6 (the chief physician Aldo Fierro; Stefania Corbi, Flaminia Bruno, Luigi De Marchis and Silvia Di Carlo), previously acquitted. According to the verdict, Stefano's health state, pre-existent and simultaneous with the multiple traumas he was hospitalised for, should have been considered more attentively by the medical staff.

Second appeal hearing

On the 18th of July 2016, once the second appeal hearing finished, the Appellate court of Rome acquitted the 5 doctors for "lack of evidence".

Second inquiry

In September 2015 Stefano's family's asked the public prosecutor's office to reopen an investigation file on the case. The investigation concerned in particular the carabinieri working in the first two stations where Stefano's identification process had been carried out and where Stefano was put into the security cell during the night between the 15th and the 16th of October 2009.

On the 17th of January 2017, an indictment is called for Alessio Di Bernardo, Raffaele D’Alessandro and Francesco Tedesco, accused of manslaughter after having punched and kicked Stefano, causing him injuries that become mortal. Francesco Tedesco, Vincenzo Nicolardi and the marshal Roberto Mandolini were also accused of falsification and defamation, for they did not named Di Bernardo e D'Alessandro while writing down the arrest record, and for having perjured themselves during the first hearing, which led to the accusation of the prison guard officers for personal injuries and abuse of authority towards Stefano during the night between the 15th and the 16th of October 2009.

On the 24th of February 2017 three carabinieri were suspended from duty

On the 10th of July 2017 five carabinieri were put on trial

On the 14th of November 2019 Alessio di Bernardo and Raffaele d’Alessandro were condemned to 12 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

The impact on public opinion

Due to the dedication Ilaria Cucchi (Stefano's sister) put into the matter, her brother's case got a considerable media coverage. This situation led to a general re-consideration of other similar cases regarding suspicious deaths in prison (26 cases in 2009). In 2011 Maurizio Cartolano produced the documentary 148 Stefano mostri dell'inerzia, presented during the Rome Film Festival, sponsored by Amnesty International and Articolo 21. Another author, Adriano Chiarelli, in his investigation-essay Malapolizia [Bad police], also analysed Stefano Cucchi's story.

Films and documentaries

In 2018 Netflix produced On My Skin, directed by Alessio Cremonini, featuring Alessandro Borghi as Stefano Cucchi. It was chosen as the opening movie for the section "Orizzonti" during the 75ª Venice International Film Festival.

Legacy

Memorial Stefano Cucchi

Stefano was keen on, and practised, boxing. He was friend of the competitive boxer Emanuele Della Rosa. In 2010 the first Memorial Stefano Cucchi, a boxing tournament, was held in Rome.

Musical memorials

• Nemico pubblico in Guilty (2010) by Noyz Narcos
• Cantano tutti in Qui è selvaggio (2011) by Primo & Squarta
• Fermi con le mani in Atlantico Live (2011) by Fabrizio Moro
• Banditi nella sala in Profondo rosso (2011) by Assalti frontali feat. Inoki & Esa, 2011
• Malèvera in La stessa barca (2011) by 24 Grana
• Tutti in catene in the EP Il peggiore (2011) by Emis Killa
• A sentence in Non siete Stato voi (2011) by Caparezza: "Non siete Stato voi, uomini boia con la divisa che ammazzate di percosse i detenuti" [It wasn't you, man-murderers in (policeman) uniform, you who beat to death the inmates]
• Bastardi senza gloria in La rivolta (2012) by RedSka
• Scese lenta l'ultima neve in Novembre (2012) by Massimiliano D'Ambrosio
• Le due storie in Spiraglio di periferia (2012) by Rocco Hunt
• Ninna nanna in Musica commerciale (2013) by Jake La Furia
• Vittime di rappresaglia in Curre curre guaglió 2.0 (2014) by 99 Posse
• Scendi giù in Al monte (2014) by Alessandro Mannarino
• Ma tu no in Una vita al Top (2015) by Giancane
• Costole rotte in Niente che non va (2015) by Coez
• Colpa della fame in Vie d'uscita (2017) by Il sogno della Crisalide
• Wasabi Freestyle in Orange County California (2017) by Tedua
• Addormentato in stazione in Disco orario (2017) by The Vad Vuc
• V!olence in No Comment (2018) by Nitro
• In cattività by Mezzosangue

See also

• On My Skin

References

• le ultime parole di Cucchi

External links

• Stefano Cucchi
• Analisi della vicenda
• [5]
• [6]

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