GIULIANI AND GAGGIO v. ITALY JUDGMENT
13
(iii) The third set of tests
56. On 12 February 2002 the public prosecutor's office instructed a
panel of experts (made up of Mr Balossino, Mr Benedetti, Mr Romanini and
Mr Torre) “to reconstruct, even in virtual form, the actions of M.P. and
Carlo Giuliani in the moments immediately before and after the bullet
struck the victim's body”. In particular, the experts were asked to “establish
the distance between M.P. and Carlo Giuliani, their respective angles of
vision and M.P.'s field of vision inside the jeep at the moment the shots
were fired”. It appears from the file that Mr Romanini had published an
article in September 2001 in a specialist journal (TAC Armi), in which he
expressed the view, among other things, that M.P.'s actions had constituted
“a clear and wholly justified defensive reaction”.
57. The representatives and experts appointed by the applicants attended
the examinations by the panel of experts. The applicants' lawyer, Mr Vinci,
stated that he did not wish to make an application for the immediate
production of evidence (incidente probatorio). Article 392 §§ 1 (f) and 2 of
the CCP allows the public prosecutor and the accused, among other things,
to request the investigating judge (giudice per le indagini preliminari) to
order a forensic examination where the latter concerns a person, object or
place which is subject to unavoidable alteration or where, if ordered during
the trial, the examination in question could entail suspension of the
proceedings for a period exceeding sixty days. Under Article 394 of the
CCP the injured party may request the public prosecutor to apply for the
immediate production of evidence. If the public prosecutor refuses the
request, he or she must issue an order giving reasons and must serve it on
the injured party.
58. An on-site inspection was conducted on 20 April 2002. Traces of the
impact of a shot were found on the wall of a building on Piazza Alimonda,
at a height of about five metres.
59. On 10 June 2002 the experts submitted their report. The experts
stated at the outset that the fact that they had not had access to Carlo
Giuliani's body (because it had been cremated) had been a major obstacle
which had prevented them from producing an exhaustive report, as they had
been unable to re-examine parts of the body and search for micro-traces. On
the basis of the “little material available” the experts attempted to establish
first of all what the impact of the bullet had been on Carlo Giuliani's body,
setting out the following considerations.
60. The injuries to the skull had been very serious and had resulted in
death “within a short space of time”. The bullet had not exited whole from
Carlo Giuliani's head; the report (referto radiologico) of the full body scan
performed before the autopsy referred to a “subcutaneous fragment,
probably metal” above the bones in the occipital region. This piece of
opaque metal looked like a fragment of bullet casing. The appearance of the
entry wound on the face did not lend itself to an unequivocal interpretation;