Supreme court set to rule on Schettino

(ANSA) - Rome, May 12 - The supreme Court of Cassation was set to rule on Friday on appeals in the case of captain Francesco Schettino, sentenced by two lower courts to 16 years and one month in jail for culpable homicide in the January 2012 Costa Concordia cruise liner disaster that killed 32 people.
    The supreme court prosecutor has upheld the position of Florence prosecutors who say the sentence is too short, having asked for 27 years in their appeal trial.
    Instead, Schettino's lawyers are asking for an acquittal.
    On Friday morning the judges gathered in chambers to decide whether to accept a request from the defence to view a video in which the defendant gives his version of events. They declined.
    The prosecutor and civil parties in the case were opposed to the video being shown on grounds the supreme court rules on matters of procedure, not merit. Schettino is the only person to have stood trial for the maritime disaster off the Tuscan island of Giglio after a number of crew members and company staff reached plea bargains with prosecutors and were sentenced to three years each.
    The disaster occurred after the cruise ship carrying 3,216 passengers and 1,013 crew members hit an underwater rock formation off the island's east coast just south of its port at 21:45 on the evening of Friday, January 13, 2012, in a strong impact that opened a hole 70 metres wide on the left side of its hull.
    In addition to the 32 people who died in the disaster, a salvage also died while working on the ship in 2014.