PALERMO (ITALPRESS) – He died at 94 years old Bruno Contrada, former police officer and executive of the Italian secret services, a controversial figure of the country’s judicial and institutional history, whose name for decades has remained linked to the investigation of the relations between the apparatuses of the State and organized crime.
Born in Naples on September 2, 1931, Contrada was long protagonist in security equipment, working in the State Police and subsequently in civil intelligence. His name emerged in the context of the investigations on the so-called “grey zone” between legality and illegality and the alleged links between mafia and institutions, a central theme also in the investigations that led to the massacre of Via D’Amelio of 1992, in which the magistrate Paolo Borsellino was killed. Contrada has always rejected every accusation and has been called collaborator and friend of Judge Borsellino, a condition however disputed by the family of the murdered magistrate. In his youth he had also been a colleague and superior of the manager of the mobile team of Palermo Boris Giuliano, killed by the mafia in 1979.
He was arrested on December 24, 1992, and was charged for an outside competition in a mafia association. After a first absolution on appeal, in 2007 the sentence became definitive with a penalty at 10 years of imprisonment. Contrada has always proclaimed his innocence. He ended his sentence in 2012. However, his judiciary had further development on the international level. In 2014 the European Court of Human Rights condemned the Italian State, believing that the failure to grant domiciles despite the serious health conditions had violated the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment. The following year, the Court also stated that, at the time of the disputed facts (1979-1988), the offence in mafia association was not sufficiently clear and predictable. In 2017 the Court of Cassation declared therefore inexecutable the sentence, finally closing the case. In the same year, police chief Franco Gabrielli revoked the destitution, reintegrating Contrada as a retired state police officer with retroactive effect in 1993.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
