“Allow me therefore to remind the ladies and gentlemen of the jury what the judges know as well as I do. The burden is on the prosecution to prove the charges, and this is a principle in law. But once the burden of proof is fulfilled, as in this case, once such impressive material is presented, it isn’t acceptable for the defence to question it with vague conjecture, allusions devoid of any connection with the substance of the investigation.

“Your Honours, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I want to tell you something that I hope will remain imprinted in your memory, and above all in your conscience, when you retire to deliberate. If we admit the possibility of acquitting a defendant against whom there is so much unequivocal and corroborating evidence, we have to abandon the very idea of 248punishment for the guilty and justice for the victims. I’ve been doing this job for a long time, and I can assure you that in few murder cases have I seen such an abundance of evidence, evidence pointing so clearly to the guilt of the accused.

“What would you think if you were the mother, the fiancée, a friend of the victim and somebody suggested the possibility that at this hearing, with this evidence, the accused could be acquitted? Wouldn’t you find that unacceptable? Remember these words when you deliberate and come to a decision. I’m sure your decision will keep justice as your sole guide and will not be influenced by sophistry, equivocation or rhetorical exercises.”

She paused one last time. She threw me a look that struck me as halfway between admonition and defiance, then looked at the judges and jurors and nodded slowly in a somewhat theatrical way.

“I’m coming to my conclusion. The way in which the accused has defended himself, his criminal record and his subsequent conduct prior to the murder are all factors that make extenuating circumstances inapplicable. I ask therefore that you reject the appeal and confirm the contested ruling in toto.

“The accused having given self-incriminating testimony regarding the offence of continued dealing in narcotics, I ask in addition that the transcript be passed on to the Prosecutor’s Department with a view to further action.”

249

25

I was sitting in the deserted courtroom.

The moments that precede the closing statement in certain trials and appeals resemble those that precede a boxing match. There’s a very similar sense of solitude, a very similar mixture of feelings: a desire to run away and an impatience to get up in the ring, start the fight and put an end to the fear.

After Gastoni’s closing statement, Judge Marinelli had ordered half an hour’s break.