On December 13th, the appeal process for the killing of a Marsican bear in Pettorano was held in L’Aquila. The defendant was acquitted by the Court of Sulmona and the sentence was appealed by the General Prosecutor of Aquila on recourse from the Associations established civil parties, Salviamo L’Orso, WWF, LAC, LAV and Pro Natura. The Court has decided a partial renewal of the preliminary investigation, ordering the hearing on the 26th February of the ballistic expert and the only witness of the fact, the daughter of the accused. The case will be discussed and finally decided on March 13th 2020.
SLO welcomes with satisfaction the interlocutory decision of the Court of Appeal, symptomatic of the will to ascertain exactly the dynamics of the facts, that the first judge had incredibly overlooked despite the ballistic findings, from which it was clear how the shot was the result of a voluntary decision of the man and not a consequence of the case. The road to truth is still long, but certainly closer today. SLO will continue to fight together with other associations to assert the principle that no bear should be killed, for any reason.