Italian court: Costa Concordia Captain’s 2012 shipwreck sentence Upheld

The 16-year prison sentence for Francesco Schettino, former captain of the Costa Concordia was upheld by an Italian appeals court. Francesco Schettino appealed against the sentence handed down in 2015. Schettino was found guilty of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning passengers. The appeals court rejected the prosecutor’s request to extend the term to 27 years.Schettino can appeal. The ruling also bars him from working on a ship for five years. Schettino was sentenced in February 2015 to 16 years and one month in prison after a judge ruled that his recklessness was responsible caused Costa Concordia to hit underwater rocks off the coast of the Tuscan island of Giglio.

Though He’s Guilty, the Costa Concordia’s Captain Walks Free for Now

Schettino was sentenced to 16 years — 10 for manslaughter, five for causing a maritime disaster, one for abandoning his passengers. As long as his sentence is under appeal, Schettino will not go to prison. He could — in theory — take command of a ship while his sentence is still under appeal. Italian legal cases can take years and even decades to fully unfold.

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Costa Concordia Captain Found Guilty in Fatal Shipwreck

Italian Captain Francesco Schettino was found guilty today for causing the fatal shipwreck of the Costa Concordia and sentenced to 16 years in prison, according to a three-judge panel.

The verdict came after a 19-month-long trial in which Schettino, who had been accused of causing the Jan. 13, 2012 shipwreck near the Italian island of Giglio, was charged with multiple counts of manslaughter and abandoning ship before all 4,200 passengers could be safely evacuated.

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Prosecutor Alessandro Leopizzi: Captain Is Reason Why 32 Died Aboard Concordia

The 32 victims of the Costa Concordia shipwreck didn’t die because the luxury cruise liner crashed into a reef, but due to “chaos, delays, errors” under the captain’s watch, a prosecutor contended in final arguments Friday.

Francesco Schettino, who captained the Costa Crociere vessel when it capsized in 2012 near tiny Giglio island off the Tuscan coast, is being tried for manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning the Concordia while many passengers and crew members were still aboard.

Read more: Prosecutor: Captain Is Reason Why 32 Died Aboard Concordia

Concordia shipwreck trial to hear closing arguments

Wednesday testimony claims Schettino was “in shock”

Closing arguments for the prosecution are scheduled Thursday and Friday in the trial of Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia which shipwrecked off the Tuscan island of Giglio in January 2012, killing 32 people. In Wednesday’s hearings, Captain Leopoldo Manna, director of central operations for Rome’s harbourmaster, testified that based on his telephone conversations with Schettino while the shipwreck was underway, Manna told operations center personnel he felt Schettino wasn’t the “most suitable” person to speak to regarding the situation, and that he “seemed in shock”. A recording was played in court in which Manna uses a vulgar expression to tell another in the operations center that Schettino seemed stupid or “out of it”.

Concordia shipwreck trial to hear closing arguments

Costa Concordia captain faces questions

Costa Concordia captain faces questions
A damning new video shown Wednesday at the trial of Francesco Schettino, captain of the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner, appears to show him boarding a lifeboat with passengers still clearly on board the doomed ship.
It was presented to the court as Schettino took the stand for a second day.
Schettino’s lawyer, Domenico Pepe, asked the court not to admit the fuzzy videotape that appeared to show the captain getting onto a lifeboat from the ship’s bow wearing the same jacket and tie he had on at dinner before the ship crashed.
Read more: Costa Concordia captain faces questions