Italy • • • 🌿 Progressive

Garlasco: accused Sempio defends Stasi conviction as lawyers target investigators

Garlasco: accused Sempio defends Stasi conviction as lawyers target investigators

Andrea Sempio, 38, accused in the Pavia prosecutors' new investigation into the murder of Chiara Poggi in Garlasco nearly 20 years ago, said on television that…

--- The context --- Nearly 20 years after the murder of Chiara Poggi in Garlasco, Pavia prosecutors reopened the case against Andrea Sempio, 38, a schoolmate of Marco Poggi, the victim's brother. Alberto Stasi —Chiara's former boyfriend, a former Bocconi student, finally convicted to 16 years— is finishing his term. The novelty is not only the accused: the second-closure documents, obtained by Pavia prosecutors from the Parma Ris, describe the original investigators' work and open a parallel inquiry into them. --- The facts --- On 'Porta a Porta', Sempio described his last year and a half —confined to his room, his lawyer's office or trips with consultants— and rejected every charge: print 33 is attributable to no one; the size 42 shoe did not fit him, and every pair he keeps at home, even old ones, is size 44. He defended the convicted man —'in my opinion the conviction is just'— ruling out any judicial error; the alternative account of an innocent Stasi does not convince him. But the filed papers reveal another tension: the negative DNA finding on the pedals of Stasi's bicycle, dated September 20, 2007, never entered the case record; neither did a 'psychological evaluation' of the then-suspect. Samples from the plaster of palm print 33 and fragments of the victim's nails were destroyed in 2016, through a regular procedure according to Ris chief Matteo Donghi. Those who may be heard include the then lead prosecutor Rosa Muscio, who directed the first case in Vigevano, and the former consultants of Stasi's defense, Avato and Fabbri. Sempio's lawyers, Bocellari and De Rensis, are preparing a revision and studying complaints over irregularities in the 2007 investigation. --- The positions --- Sempio's stance is paradoxical: an accused man in an open case asking the public to believe in the convicted man's guilt. His words are not evidence, but the account of an interested party. The Ris documents sketch an investigation with result-driven instructions. On August 27, 2008, Luciano Garofano, then head of the Ris, asked Captain Mattei to 'dwell a bit on the uniqueness of the design' of the shoe prints and 'hint at a size' —'desirable', he wrote; Mattei found them compatible with Stasi's size 'precisely by reason of their incompleteness'. Garofano also requested a 'practical and also theoretical treatment' of the blood stains to 'ridicule' Avato's theses. --- What remains unknown --- It remains unknown whether the omitted data would have changed the first trial, whether the 2016 destruction of exhibits was routine or irreparable, and what Muscio, Avato and Fabbri will say. --- Unanswered questions --- Why was the negative DNA result of September 20, 2007 never filed in the case record? What did the psychological evaluation that never entered the files contain? How many certainties of the original trial survive when experts were told to 'ridicule' dissenters? --- EPM analysis --- Investigating the investigators is not revenge: it is the minimum condition of credible justice. Garofano's emails document conclusions 'extended' at the command's wish. That Sempio today defends Stasi's conviction closes nothing: an accused man is not an impartial witness. At stake is how many final sentences rest on guided reports and omitted data. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the value of this reopening is not in the dock, but in the scrutiny of what was considered untouchable for years: the quality of the original investigation. If negative data was hidden and experts worked under result-driven instructions, then the problem is not only who killed Chiara Poggi, but how the state builds the truth that later locks a man away for 16 years. The promised revision must be independent and go all the way.
📤 Share on Telegram

¿Te gustó este artículo? Recibe cobertura global en tu correo.

Suscríbete gratis / Subscribe free