Leonardo Moretti entered prison in Perugia on Thursday evening, the 61-year-old man who remained barricaded on the crane on a construction site next to the courthouse in Florence for four days. Since the 5-year sentence for extortion is now final, the doors of the Capanne penitentiary in Perugia have opened for him.
«I am truly disgusted by this story – says his defender, the lawyer Michele Vincelli who assisted Moretti in the last appeal to the Supreme Court – it is not normal that the first degree sentence arrived after 13 years while now they have been very quick in notifying him of the execution of the sentence. This is the demonstration of justice that rages against the weak. All we have to do is ask the President of the Republic for pardonwe will do it immediately, hoping that this man, who is not a criminal but truly a victim of justice, does not fall into depression and does not commit acts of self-harm.”
The story began in 2009 when Morelli opposed an eviction in Città della Pieve, Umbria. For asking for a “severance payment” from the owners he is investigated in Orvieto for extortion. After the suppression of the Orvieto court, the proceedings were transferred to Terni. Even following the suspension due to the pandemic Moretti, who was also resident in the United Kingdom, will no longer hear from the trial: all documents are notified to the public defender who has always been absent from the hearings, including the hearings.
In January 2022 the conviction was pronounced in the absence of both the accused and the defense lawyer. The lawyer Vincelli presented an appeal to the Supreme Court to rescind the judgment but the appeal was rejected, for this reason the prison doors were opened for Moretti, «despite – explains the lawyer – there is proof of the negligence of the defenders and of the fact that he was not aware of the outcome of the trial. A person like him, who has always considered himself a victim of justice, if he had known about the trial he would have always been present.”
Moretti had convinced himself to come down on Monday morning after yet another conversation with prosecutor Christine Von Borries who had then collected the complaint regarding his affairs.
