8 Carabinieri risk Cucchi cover-up trial

(ANSA) - Rome, March 19 - Eight Carabinieri officers risk being sent to trial over a suspected cover-up of the police brutality death of Rome draughtsman Stefano Cucchi in 2009, sources said Tuesday. Prosecutors have wrapped up a probe into the case in which the eight are under investigation. They include General Alessandro Casarsa, who at the time was the head of the force's Rome group, and Colonel Lorenzo Sabatino. The chain of false and doctored news and documents on Cucchi's health started with Casarsa, according to the charge sheet.
    The suspects are accused of crimes including making false statements, failure to report a crime, aiding and abetting and calumny. Casarsa and Cavallo are among five accused of making false statements.
    Cucchi's sister Ilaria said "those who made us suffer will have to pay".
    She said "in this time of emotional difficulty for our family it is comforting to know that those who have caused us suffering in all these years in wrongful trials will be called to answer for what they did.
    "It is a huge victory for our family and our justice", she told reporters. Cucchi allegedly died in 2009 due to injuries caused by a beating by Carabinieri police.
    One of five Carabinieri on trial in relation to Cucchi's death has accused two others of the beating.
    For several years the case looked set to end without anyone being brought to justice for Cucchi's death, allegedly because of the cover-up.