After years of controversy, meetings, interventions by the police, the Cuneo Centro neighborhood committee and the Municipality, the penultimate word on the “case” via Pellico – before that of the judge – comes from the public prosecutor Alessandro Bombardiere: “The defendants, within the limits of their possibilities, carried out a lawful activity, thanks to the exceptional permits issued by the Municipality, and took steps to ensure that the noise did not reach a certain threshold”.
The Prosecutor’s Office therefore asks not to punish, not even with a fine, the owners of the former Chicken King Latino’s and the nearby Mirela bar, both accused of disturbing the peace. An important precedent, however the trial ends up, because until now the public prosecution had always requested – and obtained – convictions against the Cuneo premises: the latest ones against Lucertolo’s and Ex Lavatoi. This time there are no elements to declare criminal responsibility. Which certainly doesn’t mean that problems didn’t exist in that street, also due to the co-presence of other phenomena: drug dealing and occasional drunken brawls. Especially in the case of the South American poultry shop, which has now changed management, at least four or five interventions by the police and firefighters were reported in the two-year period 2020-21, the one that is the subject of the complaint presented by a group of neighbors.
There are also those who testified without being a civil party, indeed without even having signed the complaint. This is the case of a resident, a music teacher at the Conservatory, who carried out some phonometric measurements on his behalf on the “hottest” evenings: the decibels reached over 60 on the evenings when the bar organized karaoke. “At values between 80 and 90 decibels – explained the “expert” witness – there begins to be an important sound pressure, like an orchestra playing very loudly”. He himself, the father of a baby just a few months old at the time, explained that he had revolutionized the layout of the house to be able to rest: “I’m not against music, – he precised – in fact I work on it: my personal opinion is that the volume could have been kept lower”.
“Residents waited years before deciding to take legal action, when their quality of life had already suffered a significant decrease” said the lawyer Claudio Massa in his conclusions, insisting on the request for conviction: the residents’ lawyer recalled that no exemptions had been requested for the karaoke evenings in 2021, as confirmed by the municipal manager. Too little would also have been done regarding public order problems: “It does not appear that there have been any calls to the police from the Chicken King: there is only one episode, when the waitress of the restaurant was attacked by a customer”.
However, the defender of the accused, the lawyer Aldo Serale, also refers to the police interventions when he observes that “from the reports of the police, in an area constantly monitored, there are no particular problems relating to music or noise coming from the premises”. Furthermore, no assessments have ever been made by ARPA on noise levels: “The music in the Chicken King came from inside and was played by a television. Only one condominium owner had mentioned the soundproofing problem, which is why the accused had spoken about it with the owner but had had no response”. In the case of the Mirela bar, whose owner claims to have only learned of the complaints after the complaint, “it is not proven that the decibels have been exceeded, even in the absence of requests for exemption in 2021. Out of eleven condominiums there were only two reports: nothing from the others, nor from the administrator”.
On May 14th the judge will listen to the replies of the parties before making his decision.
Tags: Movida Pellico prosecutor asks acquittal Lawful activity locals
