The preliminary hearing on 14 April 2023 lasted less than two hours. The prosecution presented its arguments for the dismissal of two challenges raised in the previous hearing by Save the Children (STC) defense lawyers and joined by other defense counsel, which concerned alleged prosecutorial failures in relation to evidence sharing (see report from 24 March 2023).  

The first point addressed by the prosecution was its alleged failure to share all relevant evidence with defense at the conclusion of the investigation phase and therefore before the police interrogation of a particular STC defendant. Defense lawyers noted that it was eventually shared at a later date, but with repercussions not only for that defendant’s ability to defend themself, but also for the defense of two other STC defendants. On this point, the prosecution claimed that there was a fundamental misunderstanding (equivoco di fondo) on the part of the defense counsel. The prosecution argued that it had deposited all evidentiary material on which the charges against the accused are based at the Trapani Court registry at the end of the investigation phase on 2 March 2021, including the CDs of audio-visual material that the defense claimed to have only received on 4 March 2022. The prosecution highlighted that it had not been able to send an electronic version of the specific evidence cited by the defense lawyers at the time of the investigation’s closure, due to the quantity and nature of the audio-visual material. However, the evidence had been accessible, they claimed, in the files at the courthouse. Ultimately, they argued, it had been the responsibility of the defense lawyers to go to the Court of Trapani to access and review all of the shared evidentiary material. The judge specifically asked the prosecution to again clarify that all CDs shared with the defense on 4 March 2022 had already been included in the folders deposited at the Trapani Court registry on 2 March 2021, which the prosecutors confirmed.  

The second point addressed by the prosecution concerned evidence that had been stored on personal IT equipment belonging to main witnesses for the prosecution, which defense counsel argued had not been shared and can no longer be shared, as the relevant IT equipment was returned to its owners with no copy of the evidence retained. On this point, the prosecution acknowledged the accuracy of the facts as presented by the defense lawyers, including that specific material seized during the investigation phase (the IT equipment and its contents) had later been deemed unnecessary by the prosecution and therefore returned to the owners with a release order (dissequestro) dated 15 March 2021. However, the prosecution argued that the evidence had not been included in the case file at the end of the investigation phase because the prosecution had not considered the material to be relevant. The prosecution claimed that there is nothing in the indictment based on the alleged evidentiary material. As such, they argued that no violation of the rights of defense had occurred.   

Following the presentation of the prosecution’s arguments, the judge asked the lawyer for the State Legal Service of Palermo (Avvocatura dello Stato), representing the Ministry of the Interior in its capacity as a civil party in the proceedings (see report from 25 February 2023), if he wanted to add any observations. After the lawyer declared that he had nothing to say, the judge allowed STC defense lawyers to briefly respond to the prosecution’s submissions. As the defense’s views were in stark contrast to those of the prosecution, with both presenting fundamentally different versions of the same events regarding the exchange/communication that took place between them on the aforementioned points, the judge granted the defense an additional time period in which to submit further observations in writing. He announced that he would decide on the matter at the next hearing.  

After this discussion, the judge gave the floor once again to the prosecution, which announced it had submitted a written note containing the reformulation (riformulazione) of three counts of the indictment against the legal entities (two NGOs and a shipping company). The prosecution stated that the note further elaborates on the organizational fault and liability of the legal entities, further clarification of which had been requested by the judge during the hearing on 15 March 2023, when the judge agreed with defense lawyers that the alleged offenses raised by the prosecution against the NGOs in the case were too vague (see report from 15 March 2023). The judge neither read nor assessed the reformulation of the charges in the courtroom, but had it recorded in the minutes that all parties had received a copy of the prosecution’s written note, to which defense lawyers would be able to submit their observations in response. 

At the end of the hearing, Iuventa defense lawyer Nicola Canestrini informed the judge that the Iuventa defendants are in the process of privately renting portable individual equipment for simultaneous translation (see report from 25 February 2023). Before the Iuventa crew confirmed the rental contract, he asked the judge for prior authorization to connect such devices to the microphone system in the courtroom. The judge had it recorded in the minutes that he granted the authorization, and that the president of the Court of Trapani had formally requested that the Italian Ministry of Justice purchase similar equipment for courthouse, clarifying that the tender procedure would take at least a few months to be completed. Although the Iuventa defendants must provide themselves with such equipment privately in the meantime, this development marks a positive step towards guaranteeing the Iuventa defendants’ rights to adequate interpretation and translation. The purchasing of such equipment by the courthouse also promises to have a wider impact on fair trial guarantees in the long term, as this equipment can be used in other criminal proceedings in Trapani beyond the present case. 

The next preliminary hearing is scheduled to take place at the Court of Trapani on 12 May 2023.