The magistrate of the Palermo court, Stefania Brambille, has admitted three new civil parties in the trial against the Brancaccio mafia, in which 31 traders who denied having paid the extortion money are also accused. At the first preliminary hearing, all the bodies and associations that generally participate in the proceedings did not show up, given that the complaint addressed to the entrepreneurs was simple aiding and abetting and not aggravated by the facilitation of Cosa Nostra. Despite this impediment – by statute the associations only take part in trials against people accused of mafia crimes – today Addiopizzo, the Anti-racket Federation and the Solidarity Desk, in the face of the objections of the defendants’ lawyers, were admitted by judge Brambille.
In its order the preliminary hearing judge highlighted how abstractly the connection of the conduct of the accused persons to the association phenomenon can justify appearing in court. The judge, in fact, admitting the associations that have requested to be civil parties, explains that although the crime of aiding and abetting is not included among the crimes for which the respective statutory social purposes provide for the associations to be civil parties, the linking the behavior of aiding and abetting to the crime of mafia association produces in abstract damage to the associations themselves and to the free market and for this reason they are entitled to form themselves.
The Municipality of Palermo was also absent today, now legitimized by the judge’s decision to participate in the proceedings. As long as he shows up by the next hearing.
