Italy scientists sentenced to jail in quake trial
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In this April 7, 2009 file photo a man sits on rubble in the village of Onna, a day after a powerful earthquake struck the Abruzzo region in central Italy. An Italian court Monday, Oct 22, 2012 has convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people. -- PHOTO: AP
L'AQUILA, Italy (AFP) - Six Italian scientists and a government official were sentenced to six years in jail on Monday for multiple manslaughter in a watershed ruling that found them guilty of underestimating the risks of a killer earthquake in 2009.
They were also ordered to pay more than nine million euros (almost S$14.4 million) in damages to survivors in the devastated medieval town of L'Aquila in a case that has sparked outrage in the international science community.
Seismologists in Italy and beyond were horrified by the unprecedented sentence and argued that all science was being put on trial.
Under the Italian justice system, the seven remain free until they have exhausted two chances to appeal the verdict.
