The Alcamo native Giuseppe Gulotta and the former Sardinian pastor Beniamino Zuncheddu participated in the “two days” on the most sensational Italian judicial errors (the third, that of Enzo Tortora) of the last part of the 20th century. A conference, organized by the local Criminal Chamber (president, lawyer Francesca Frusteri) and by the national manager of Judicial Errors, lawyer Giacomo Frazzitta, which saw the lawyers discuss the delicate topic with some magistrates.
And precisely during the days of the conference, which took place at the “Sollima” Theatre, the news arrived of the filing of the reasons for the sentence with which on 26 January the Court of Appeal of Rome, in the review process, acquitted Beniamino Zuncheddunow 60 years old, in prison for almost 33 years having been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of being the author, or one of the authors, of the Sinnai massacre on 8 January 1991 (three dead and one seriously injured).
“The reasons – explained the defense lawyer Mauro Trogu – say that the eyewitness was certainly primed by the policeman when he accused Beniamino Zuncheddu. Therefore, the prosecution witness had not seen and was directed by the policeman towards Zuncheddu. And it is said in the motivations that a highly malleable, fickle witness also appeared. Therefore, an unreliable witness. And this contrasts with what he said in 1991, when he strongly defended his reliability. It is also said that the witness who provided evidence of the motive is also unreliable, but despite this it is difficult to say ‘but in any case Zuncheddu has not demonstrated his total ignorance of the facts’. But this is a diabolical proof, because we don’t know who accuses him, we have no one to deny. And this leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. Also because with this reasoning there is a reversal of the burden of proof. But it is the prosecution that has to prove the guilt of an accused, not the latter who has to prove his innocence. After 33 years of unjust detention, this doesn’t seem very nice towards Zuncheddu.” The sentence, concludes the lawyer, will become final on June 10th and at that moment the request for compensation for damages can be formulated.
“My family helped me, my brothers worked for me. Especially my sister and my brother-in-law – declared Zuncheddu – But I need compensation from the state. I also have debts. In the meantime, maybe give me a thousand euros a month…”. The former Sardinian shepherd, 60 years old, he spent almost 33 in prison having been sentenced to life imprisonment accused of being the perpetrator of the Sinnai massacre (Cagliari) on 8 January 1991 (three dead and one seriously injured). Last January 26, however, in the review process, he was acquitted by the Court of Appeal of Rome, which has now filed the reasons. “How did I not go crazy during these 33 in prison? It’s difficult to explain it – says the former pastor, visibly still very distressed – I thought: one day or another I have to get out because I’m innocent. They stole my life. However, everyone in prison treated me well. Both the prisoners and the guards. They were convinced of my innocence.”
Locked up in prison two months before turning 27, Zuncheddu was released at 59 with the release order issued by the Court of Criminal Appeal of Rome on 25 November 2023. And during his detention, having never pleaded guilty to a crime he had not committed, he was unable to take advantage of the rewards provided for by law. He was imprisoned in the Badu ‘e Carros prison in Nuoro, in the old penitentiary institute in Cagliari and in the new one in Uta. From cell to cell, year after year, despite being innocent.
In Marsala, for the conference “The three great miscarriages of justice. Enzo Tortora, Giuseppe Gulotta, Beniamino Zuncheddu”even the lawyer Francesco Petrelli, president of the Union of Italian Criminal Chambers. “The number of levels of judgement, three, that a system provides to guarantee the accused in the ascertainment of a fact and the related responsibilities is evidently not enough – stated the lawyer Petrelli – What, however, gives quality to the judgment, and therefore can serve to avoid judicial errors, is the quality of the evidence. In our country, unfortunately, there is a lack of a real culture of proof, a culture of limits which the Supreme Court of Cassation recently called ‘the dialectic of doubt’. In short, always make the virtue of reasonable doubt prevail over the objective that the investigator often sets himself. And there is no worse traveling companion, for the judicial police, for the public prosecutor and finally for the judge, than the idea of a responsibility which becomes the premise of the search for proof. This is what happens in most cases and this is also what happened in the terrible affair that saw poor Zuncheddu as the victim.”
The latter, at the entrance of “Eliodoro Sollima” municipal theater met and embraced Giuseppe Gulotta from Alcamo for the first time, also the victim of a sensational miscarriage of justice: 22 years in prison, before acquittal in the review trial, for the killing of two carabinieri in the Alcamo Marina station. The conference organized by the Criminal Chamber of Marsala was also attended by former senator Francesca Scopelliti, who was Enzo Tortora’s partner and is president of the Foundation named after him.
Tags: conference cases Marsala Enzo Tortora Beniamino Zuncheddu Giuseppe Gulotta
