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other people. After an interrogation, during which she was threatened to be arrested for voluntary murder, Gabriella
Alletto, after a conflicting testimony, implicated Giovanni Scattone, age 29, and Salvatore Ferraro, age 30, who were junior lecturers in the legal philosophy department of Rome's La Sapienza University, and Francesco Liparota, usher and graduate in law. Neither had a criminal record nor a reason to murder Ms. Russo. The woman accused also professor Bruno Romano of reticence, then defended by well-known lawyers Franco Coppi and
290:(finally, the punishment consisted to 5 years and four months of prison for Giovanni Scattone, 4 years and two months to Salvatore Ferraro). Scattone and Ferraro have always claimed to be innocent, and to have been stuck with outright testimony. Instead, the supreme court dismissed Francesco Liparota (overturning his previously conviction for complicity) - because he was not punishable at the time, according to the judges he would have covered the shot because he was too scared - and, previously, acquitted even Bruno Romano.
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The trial began in June 1998; some neutral forensics affirmed during the trial the innocence of
Scattone and Ferraro, arguing that the shot was fired from the ground floor, while Liparota revealed that he was threatened by the police to accuse his colleagues; initially confirming the allegations, he
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until 2005; later, having the court granted him the complete legal criminal rehabilitation, eliminating perpetual interdictions from public offices, he became a high school professor of philosophy until 2015, when he got a job as a psychology teacher, but resigned following the controversies by the
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for killing Russo. She had no history of drug abuse, no outspoken political or religious opinions and no jilted lovers in her past. Instead, they proposed the intellectual challenge of committing a perfect murder, a crime for which one could not be prosecuted partly because of its apparent lack of
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The case gained huge attention in the media, owing to the apparent indiscriminate nature in which the victim was targeted. The public was so interested that court proceedings were broadcast live on radio. Campus killings were unheard of in Italy, leading to parents of students being so scared for
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On 9 May 1997, at about 11:42, a 0.22 calibre bullet hit Marta Russo while she walked with a friend, Jolanda Ricci, on the university's grounds, in a driveway located between the university's schools of
Statistical Sciences, Law and Political Science. She was transported to the nearby Policlinico
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The circle tightened around the 25 or so people who often used the room to consult textbooks or use computers. Telephone records identified one person, Maria Chiara Lipari, the daughter of a professor, who indicated – after many uncertainties – the presence of a secretary, Gabriella
Alletto, and
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This motive was denied by the accused, and no proof of this has been found, so the court condemned them with light sentences of only involuntary manslaughter. According to the judgment, Scattone had a pistol in his hand for unknown reasons, and accidentally took a shot. Panicking, Scattone and
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Then, a videotape with the interrogation, recorded by secret services, came out, showing the stages of interrogation and presence of
Alletto's brother-in-law (a policeman), who told her she should have accused some suspects, even though "maybe she did not see materially" the scene of shooting,
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After a confirming appeal (2001), at the request of another prosecutor, Court's
Attorney General Vincenzo Geraci, the verdict was annulled by the Supreme Court of Cassation for lack of evidence (December 2001); a new appeal reiterated the conviction (2002), then confirmed definitively in 2003
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Forensic tests showed traces of gunpowder on the sill of a window on the second floor, a reading room in the legal philosophy department. Afterwards (1998), a forensic expert established that such residues were not gunpowder but residual pollution.
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in 1978) discovered in 2003, the possible organized criminality's involvement (person exchange) and the path of some university and cleaning firms employees and workers, who had a passion for firearms and handmade silencers and shell casings.
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then retracted by saying that he had not seen anything. There was a telephone bill that, combined with other testimonial reports, contradicted many details of the story of Maria Chiara Lipari and indirectly the allegations of
Alletto.
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their children that they insisted on them wearing motorcycle helmets while outside. More than 10,000 students attended Russo's funeral, joined by the Prime
Minister Prodi, the Italian President
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because "it's best to let them do the crime". The recording also showed the prosecutors warning her, saying "You are guilty of murder" and "you will never again come out of prison".
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Umberto I but died on 14 May without regaining consciousness. Her parents donated her organs, respecting Marta's desire expressed a few years earlier, speaking about the death of
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criticized these facts and described as "very serious matter" the behaviour of two prosecutors, Mr. Italo
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press and the Russo family. He wrote some essays and translations; in 2001, Scattone married
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In June 1999, jury rejected the attorney's requests and Giovanni Scattone was convicted of
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Giovanni Scattone, rinuncia alla cattedra il docente condannato per l'omicidio Marta Russo
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Some alternative paths were discarded, including the one involving a
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After a six-years-long trial Giovanni Scattone was found guilty of
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The plaque in memory of Marta Russo, University of Rome La Sapienza
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Academics were banned from speaking directly to the press.
76:'s former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, in the case of the
405:"It was the perfect crime. So who made the fatal error?"
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1997 shooting of a university student in Rome, Italy
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