Rome, 21 July (LaPresse) – The grounds for the judgement, filed in recent days by the Rome Court of Assizes of Appeal, explain why, on 8 May, the judges acquitted Raul Esteban Calderon, alias Gustavo Alejandro Musumeci, of the charge of being the perpetrator of the murder of Fabrizio Piscitelli, the Lazio ultra leader known as ‘Diabolik’, who was shot dead at the Parco degli Acquedotti on 7 August 2019. In the judges’ view, the body of evidence presented during the trial at first instance did not meet the standard of reasonable doubt, and the evidence gathered does not allow for a definitive conclusion regarding the defendant’s guilt. The court’s conclusions largely coincide with the objections raised by lawyers Giandomenico Caiazza and Eleonora Nicla Moiraghi, who had challenged the soundness of the prosecution’s case, the assessment of witness evidence, the findings of the ballistics and anthropometric expert reports, and the extension of the court’s reasoning to alleged instigators who were not involved in the trial. The judges considered several of these observations to be well-founded, highlighting that the evidence against Calderon was insufficient to support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. In the first-instance judgement, which runs to over seven hundred pages, the Court highlights that the proceedings focused exclusively on Calderon’s role as the alleged perpetrator, whilst the first-instance judgement’s reconstruction of events focused largely on identifying the possible instigators and the motive for the crime. An approach which, according to the appeal judges, ultimately relies on assessments concerning individuals who were not involved in that trial and who had already been the subject of decisions to dismiss the case or reject applications for precautionary measures.
Diabolik murder: appeal against Calderon’s acquittal; evidence scarce and controversial
Rome, 21 July (LaPresse) – The grounds for the judgement, filed in recent days by the Rome Court of Assizes of Appeal, explain why, on 8 May, the judges acquitted Raul Esteban Calderon, alias Gustavo Alejandro Musumeci, of the charge of being the perpetrator of the murder of Fabrizio Piscitelli, the Lazio ultra leader known as ‘Diabolik’, who was shot dead at the Parco degli Acquedotti on 7 August 2019. In the judges’ view, the body of evidence presented during the trial at first instance did not meet the standard of reasonable doubt, and the evidence gathered does not allow for a definitive conclusion regarding the defendant’s guilt. The court’s conclusions largely coincide with the objections raised by lawyers Giandomenico Caiazza and Eleonora Nicla Moiraghi, who had challenged the soundness of the prosecution’s case, the assessment of witness evidence, the findings of the ballistics and anthropometric expert reports, and the extension of the court’s reasoning to alleged instigators who were not involved in the trial. The judges considered several of these observations to be well-founded, highlighting that the evidence against Calderon was insufficient to support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. In the first-instance judgement, which runs to over seven hundred pages, the Court highlights that the proceedings focused exclusively on Calderon’s role as the alleged perpetrator, whilst the first-instance judgement’s reconstruction of events focused largely on identifying the possible instigators and the motive for the crime. An approach which, according to the appeal judges, ultimately relies on assessments concerning individuals who were not involved in that trial and who had already been the subject of decisions to dismiss the case or reject applications for precautionary measures.
