Prosecutors appeal after rejection of interim request for Paternò administrators in vote exchange case.
The District Attorney’s Office of Catania has appealed against the decision of the investigating judge Sebastiano Di Stefano Barbagallo to reject the request to issue a precautionary order against the mayor of Paternò, Antonino Naso, elected with civic lists in June 2022, a former city councilor and former councilor, Pietro Cirino, and a current councilor, Salvatore Comis, among the suspects of the Athena operation carried out yesterday by the carabinieri.
The alleged crime, in collusion with two alleged members of the Morabito clan linked to the Laudani family of Catania, Vincenzo Morabito and Natale Benvenga, is political-mafia electoral exchange. Cirino is among the fifteen recipients of a detention order in prison executed yesterday, but for other crimes. In the appeal order, the judge considers that there is no sufficient evidence of a crime regarding the position of Mayor Naso. According to the judge, the hiring of two people linked to the mafia in a waste management company and the alleged electoral support “do not appear feasible” and, citing a ruling of the Court of Cassation, recalls that for the crime of political-mafia electoral exchange to be proven, it is necessary “to prove that the agreement includes the implementation, or planning, of a vote procurement activity with mafia methods.”
The appeal, signed by Deputy Prosecutor Ignazio Fonzo and deputies Tiziana Laudani and Alessandra Tasciotti, concerns a total of seven suspects. Among them Naso, Cirino, Comis and Benvegna, for the charge of political-mafia electoral exchange, for which the Prosecutor’s Office asks the Court to order detention in prison and house arrest with the use of electronic bracelet for Morabito. Prison is requested for other charges for three suspects arrested yesterday.
The Athena investigation, with 56 suspects, is based on investigations by the carabinieri of the Paternò company that have revealed the interests of the Morabito clan in judicial auctions of properties in the provinces of Catania and Siracusa.
Voto di scambio, la procura fa ricorso dopo il rigetto della richiesta cautelare per gli amministratori Paternò
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