Avellino – “It is not a defeat for the prosecution”. This is what the civil parties of the Aste Ok trial repeat in unison. The defense attorneys of the defendants and the lawyer of SOS Impresa. Starting with lawyer Roberto Vetrone, defender of a couple of defendants from Montoro, “the decision of the Criminal Court of the Avellino Court presided over by Dr. Roberto Melone, which arrived a few days earlier than expected in the case of judicial auctions, is not a defeat for the prosecution and the civil parties, in fact our reflection is more of a remark on the circumstantial framework on which the accusatory hypothesis developed than a judgment of non-guilt. In the judges’ order, which we will soon have the opportunity to read carefully, it was emphasized that in the Court of the capital of Irpinia, an organization had been established for several years as an autonomous entity that acted with typical conduct of the crime 416 bis of the Criminal Code, including the role of “Antistate” and the implementation of environmental extortions. The trial investigation has certified in essence, albeit excluding criminal liability with equally acquittals, the existence of intimidating actions, in some cases of anonymous origin, by individuals who operated and may still commit crimes in contexts where the long arm of criminal organizations is notorious. This trial, as we have already pointed out on other occasions, has opened a rift in Irpinian society that is not free from criminal phenomena of a camorristic nature and only trust in the Institutions, the denunciation of honest citizens, and the information from the free press can try to stem and one day defeat wrongdoing. Finally, it is frankly squalid to read offensive and irreverent judgments by colleagues on some media, who should be sentinels of law, ethics, and deontology, towards many honest citizens and defendants who are described as victims and accomplices of the judicial auction system.”
Lawyer Francesco Saverio Pugliese, legal representative of the constituted civil party SOS Impresa (anti-racket association) with the conclusion of the “Aste Ok” trial emphasizes that “a curtain falls on some unpleasant events to the detriment of the city of Avellino, which have occurred in recent years. In particular, at the end of the trial, it emerged that, between 2017 and 2019, in relation to the period under investigation by the Naples prosecutor’s office and based on the investigative findings during the long trial (almost two and a half years of investigation and 79 hearings), in the municipality of Avellino and its surroundings, a camorristic clan would have operated, developed according to two distinct criminal interests: one led by the “Nuovo Clan Partenio”, dedicated to extortion, usury, and intimidation activities against entrepreneurs and private citizens, the other, led by a second association, as a branch of the first clan, mainly dedicated to extortion activities, disturbances of auctions against private individuals involved in real estate procedures activated and/or pending, between 2018 and 2019, before the judge of civil enforcement at the Avellino court. However, the accusatory framework was not shared by the court judges who, with a detailed judgment, stigmatized the existence of another association, different from the one called “Nuovo Clan Partenio”, which between the end of December 2018 and June 2019, operated in the sector of auction disturbances related to real estate execution procedures pending at the civil court of Avellino. It will therefore be necessary to await a new trial that will develop according to a completely different theme of evidence in order to ascertain whether, alongside the associative group already affected by different sentences, another criminal group operated in the same period. In any case, the recognized association SOS Impresa, in order not to be offended in its social purpose, with the constitution of a civil party also in this trial, wanted to stand by entrepreneurs and private citizens in order to guarantee them every assistance and protection to support free economic and private initiative especially when it is threatened by criminal or common delinquent associations, and in this perspective, it places full trust in the judiciary, investigative bodies, and competent authorities. An commitment that is also assumed by lawyer Francesco De Cicco, legal representative of a defendant from Altavilla Irpina, who declares: “we are waiting for the reasons for the judgment to evaluate what to do. We still have full confidence in the work of the investigators and we will do our best to ensure that Justice is done.”
For lawyers Antonella Zotti, Antonio Falconieri, and Vincenzo Capoluongo, while not agreeing with the arguments of the Court, they hope that Justice is done for the protection of the victims who have so far been the only ones not to have seen their respective positions protected, to the detriment of the courage to have reported serious events that have affected the city of Avellino.
