La Court of Cassation has decided to cancel the two-year prison sentence (with suspended sentence) against Giuseppe De Benedictis, former investigating judge of the Bari Court and now serving in Matera. The legal case lasted more than seven years and the allegations were very serious: illegal possession and collection of weapons of war and receiving stolen goods, complete with an arrest in 2010. What exactly happened? The man is a gun enthusiast, as well as a gun collector.
They were found in his home 1300 weapons acquired over two decades, all regularly held. One of these, however, triggered the investigation. It's about a rifle purchased in the province of Caserta, a war weapon according to the indictment, as capable of firing in bursts. The magistrate would have understood the situation immediately, explaining to the owner of the Campania armory to return the weapon shortly after. The Carabinieri did not allow it and the inability to return the rifle led to house arrest for the judge.
After the acquittal in the first instance and the appeal of the sentence, in the second instance the man was sentenced, leading then to the appeal to the Supreme Court. These days the sentence has been permanently canceled, since there has been no postponement. For the judges of Piazza Cavour, the "colleague" has not committed any crime, an important precedent that cannot be ignored.