Former cruise ship captain Francesco Schettino has started an appeals trial in Italy to overturn his 16-year prison sentence. The prosecution has also appealed the decision, saying Schettino deserves more jail time.
Image: Imago/Independent Photo Agency/C. Morandi
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More than four years after the Costa Concordia disaster, an appeals trial for the ship's former captain, Francesco Schettino, began in Florence, Italy on Thursday.
In February 2015, the court ruled that Schettino's recklessness caused the Costa Concordia cruise ship to hit underwater rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio in 2012, killing 32 people.
The 55-year-old former seaman - who has yet to begin his 16-year-and-one-month-sentence - is looking to overturn a manslaughter conviction.
Although he did not personally show up in court, his lawyers said they will argue that blame for the accident should not fall exclusively on Schettino.
32 people died when the Costa Concordia ran aground and tipped over in 2012Image: Reuters//Italian Guardia di Finanza
"We will ask that the responsibility of all the protagonists in this affair be redefined, not just that of our client," Donato Laino, one of Schettino's advocates, told news agency AFP.
Laino said the deadly accident had been primarily caused by a failure of organization for which the ship's owner, Costa Crociere, its Indonesian helmsman and the Italian coastguard should share the blame.
The prosecution also simultaneously appealed last year's sentence, maintaining that the court shoud have given Schettino 26 years behind bars.
'Captain Coward'
Schettino was convicted of multiple manslaughter, causing a maritime accident and of leaving his boat before all passengers and crew had been evacuated - a breach of centuries-old sailors' code.
During his first, 19-month-trial, Schettino was accused of causing the crash by showing off when he steered the ship too close to the island and of being distracted because he was allegedly entertaining his lover at the time.
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Failing to be the last person off the boat accounted for one year of the sentence, and earned him the nickname "Captain Coward" in international media.
His defense team's argument that Schettino had "fallen" into a lifeboat during the ship's evacuation, earned the maligned sailor even more ridicule.
"I will fight for ever to prove that I did not abandon the Costa Concordia," Schettino urged following his conviction.
Plea bargains for crew
The company Costa Criociere avoided potential criminal charges in 2013 by accepting partial responsibility and agreeing to pay a 1 million euros ($1.1 million) fine. Five of the company's employees, including the Indonesian helmsman, concluded plea bargains and received non-custodial sentences.
The appeals trial is expected to run at least through May - with 11 hearings scheduled in May alone. Should Schettino's appeal prove unsuccessful, he can take his case to the Court of Cassation, Italy's highest court.
rs/kms (AFP, dpa)
The wrecked ship Costa Concordia has been stranded off the Italian island of Giglio for two and a half years. Now the last step in the largest maritime salvage in history is about to be completed.
Image: REUTERS
Ready to go?
The cruise liner Costa Concordia is floating again in the Mediterranean Sea. The so-called "refloating" of the damaged vessel has begun and is probably the most delicate phase of the recovery. The wreck will first be floated two meters off the platforms that currently support it. For that, the large containers left and right of the hull are being filled with air.
Image: Laura Lezza/Getty Images
The last journey
Afterwards the ship will be moved approximately 30 meters to the east, to deeper waters, where salvage experts will attach propellers to it. The plan is to raise the ship a further ten meters and then tow it to a shipyard in Genoa using tugboats.
Image: Reuters
A delicate procedure
The refloating and removal operation for the Costa Concordia is expected to take up to a week. The refloating is one of the last major hurdles of the recovery, because of the bad condition the ship is in. If it breaks up during removal, oil and other toxic fluids could leak into the sea.
Image: Reuters
Steps along the way
The defunct luxury liner was raised to an upright position last September, after more than 20 months of lying on its side in the Mediterranean Sea. In a 19-hour operation the 290 meter steel giant was pulled upright millimeter by millimeter.
Image: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images
Popular spectacle
Hundreds of people watched the initial lifting of the wrecked ship from the coast of Giglio Island. The damaged Costa Concordia liner had to be rotated 65 degrees by a series of cranes and hydraulic machines, pulling the hulk from above and below and slowly twisting it upright. The operation was a major engineering effort, given the size of the ship and the risk of toxic leaks.
Image: Reuters
The night of the accident
On 13 January 2012 at around 945pm, the luxury liner struck rocky outcrops off the Tuscan island of Giglio The ship kept moving for several hundred meters and turned before it finally capsized off the coast.
Image: AP
Late response
That night over 4,000 people were on board - a thousand of them were crew members. Most of the passengers were having dinner when the collision took place. First they were told there was a problem with the power supply and it wasn’t until 1030pm that they started evacuating the ship.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Not everyone survived
The ship started to fill up with water before coming to rest on the north side of the island. It partially capsized and ended up lying on one side. In the end, 32 people had lost their lives and one went missing and was never found. Most of the passengers were rescued with boats and helicopters. Some even jumped overboard into the 14-degree Celsius cold water and swam to land.
Image: REUTERS
Captain in court
Captain Francesco Schettino was arrested shortly after the accident. The 52-year old has been accused of negligent homicide and leaving the ship too early, amongst other things. The court case against him is still ongoing.
