Francesco Schettino

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Francesco Schettino (born November 14, 1960 in Castellammare di Stabia ) is a former Italian captain . He was the skipper in charge of the accident on the cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Italian island of Giglio in 2012.

Family and professional career

Schettino's hometown is the small community of Meta di Sorrento in the metropolitan city of Naples . He is married to Fabiola Russo, with whom he has a grown daughter. The von Schettino family has been closely associated with shipping for generations. After finishing school, Schettino attended the Nino Bixio Nautical Institute in Piano di Sorrento . He then worked for the ferry company Tirrenia . In the years 1999-2001 he worked first as a security officer and then as deputy captain for the shipping company Renaissance Cruises, a shipping company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which went bankrupt in September 2001. In 2002 he moved to the Costa Crociere shipping company based in Genoa , which also owned Costa Concordia . Costa Crociere is a subsidiary of the world's largest cruise line Carnival Corporation & plc . Schettino was initially a security officer there , he later became deputy captain and in 2006 was promoted to captain of a cruise ship.

In 2010, Schettino caused damage to the AIDAblu lying at the pier in the port of Warnemünde as the captain of the Costa Atlantica . The firmly moored sister ship was apparently set in motion by driving too fast when entering the port. The shipping company Costa Crociere, which owned both cruise ships, immediately denied contact with the ship and complained about an inappropriate presentation, since such superficial damage "happens" in everyday life. Schettino is said to have been reprimanded in writing by the shipping company for his lack of attention.

Average of the Costa Concordia

Schettino was the captain of the passenger ship Costa Concordia , which on January 13, 2012 at 9:45 p.m. in front of the Italian island of Giglio scraped past rocks close to the shore, hit a leak and then lay aground with a considerable list. In the accident there were 4,229 people on board, 32 people lost their lives. The Italian public prosecutor charged Schettino with negligent homicide.

Schettino's defense line

Schettino apologized to some of the victims' relatives. He is of the opinion that he is at most partially responsible. He accused the helmsman of reacting too late to his orders and of not having sufficient command of the Italian language. Schettino points out that it was his decision to steer the ship near the port of Giglio island after the accident with the rock. This prevented worse things from happening. However, experts doubt this statement because the steering gear was no longer functional. Wind and current alone would have caused these ship movements. According to Schettino's account, the risky approach to Giglio Island was a maneuver that the shipping company generally likes to see for advertising reasons. This is emphatically denied by the shipping company.

Public reactions

Through several unfortunate statements, Schettino has also made himself unpopular with the public. He explains that he left the ship prematurely with a slip through which he fell into a lifeboat. Several eyewitnesses and a video recording of the fire department contradict this version. Schettino spoke of himself as a commander who would come straight to God on the ship. He gave a lecture on “Panic Management” in Rome at La Sapienza University . It is also criticized that he had his then lover, the Moldovan Domnica Cemortan, as a guest on board. Schettino rejected allegations that he wanted to impress Cemortan with a daring maneuver in front of Giglio.

Shipping company

At the end of July 2012, the shipping company terminated the employment relationship with Schettino. She publicly distanced herself from him and accused him of having made serious mistakes. In April 2013, the cruise company reached an agreement with the Italian judiciary in a criminal settlement to terminate the investigation against the company against payment of the highest possible sum of one million euros under Italian law. The bereaved and injured responded with indignation. After the settlement was concluded, the shipping company was admitted as a joint plaintiff in the Schettino trial. The settlement did not exempt the shipping company from civil law claims.

Legal proceedings

After the accident, Schettino was taken into custody at the request of the Italian public prosecutor's office in the southern Tuscan provincial capital Grosseto , to whose region the island of Giglio belongs. A few days later, he was released from prison under house arrest. In the course of the preliminary hearings on the trial, five other people were accused: the shipping company's crisis manager, the ship's helmsman and three other crew members. The public prosecutor reached an agreement with these people in spring 2013 . In return for an admission of guilt, they were sentenced to prison terms of up to two years and ten months without taking any evidence. Schettino, whose defense attorney has tried to reach a similar understanding, is regarded by the public prosecutor as the main culprit. He was therefore not offered an agreement .

The court in Grosseto opened the criminal trial against Schettino on July 9, 2013. The allegations were: repeated negligent homicide and bodily harm, negligent causing of the average, premature abandonment of the ship and a lack of communication with the authorities. In view of the great international media interest, a theater was converted into a courtroom in Grosseto especially for the trial. The court admitted 242 civil co-plaintiffs with a total of 62 attorneys. On January 26, 2015, the prosecutor called for a prison sentence of 26 years and 3 months. Schettino's defender, Domenico Pepe, called for an acquittal in his plea on February 9, 2015. Schettino saved the lives of the majority of passengers through his actions. The defense attorney also complained about a one-sided media campaign that would have led to a public prejudice of his client.

The presiding judge, Giovanni Puliatti, sentenced Schettino on February 11, 2015 in the first instance to 16 years and one month imprisonment. The court upheld all charges in substance; the sentence remained under the prosecutor's request for 26 years and three months. It also ruled that Schettino and the shipping company are obliged to pay compensation. There was no risk of escape, which is why Schettino was allowed to move freely until further notice and did not have to surrender his passport. Schettino had announced the day after the verdict and without knowledge of the written reasons for the verdict that he would appeal. He was unsuccessful, however, on May 31, 2016, the court of appeal in Florence confirmed the first-instance decision. The sentence of the first instance was also confirmed; the five-year professional ban was extended to all maritime professions and combined with the ban on using the title of "Comandante" (captain). As a last resort, he only had to go to the court of cassation in Rome. There he filed an objection in October. The proceedings before this Supreme Court opened on April 20, 2017.

The Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of the lower court on May 12, 2017, whereupon Schettino surrendered to the authorities to begin his detention.

On January 12, 2018, the imprisoned ex-captain filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against his conviction.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography Francesco Schettino . IMBd.com Inc .. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b Profile: Capt Francesco Schettino . BBC News. July 19, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Costa Concordia" captain: Schettino is said to have caused an accident in 2010 . Mirror online. March 2, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Costa Concordia" Kapitän admits complicity . Online Focus. August 15, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  5. ↑ Chaos captain Schettino accuses helmsman . Online Focus. September 23, 2013. Accessed January 29, 2015.
  6. ↑ Hearing on the "Costa Concordia" accident: Captain Schettino defends himself . Mirror online. October 18, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  7. ↑ Jens Witte: "Costa Concordia" simulation: The fairy tales of Capitano . Mirror online. April 26, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  8. ^ "Costa Concordia": The captain blames shipping company for risky maneuvers . Mirror online. January 22, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  9. ↑ Witness in the "Costa Concordia" trial: Schettino is said to have jumped into the lifeboat himself . Mirror online. November 11, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  10. ↑ New video shows captain Schettino fleeing . stern-Online. December 3, 2014. Archived from the original on February 2, 2015. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 29, 2015. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stern.de
  11. ↑ a b Revision process against the captain of the Costa Concordia begins . Southgerman newspaper. April 20, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
  12. ↑ Unlucky captain Schettino and Costa shipping company sharpen their knives . Online Focus. October 10, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  13. ^ "Costa Concordia" trial: Capitano dilettante in court . Mirror online. July 8, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  14. ^ A b Annette Langer : "Costa Concordia" process: The helpful Capitano . Mirror online. July 17, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  15. ^ Arresti domiciliari a Schettino . La Repubblica Firenze. January 17, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Costa Concordia" case: Public prosecutor is working on agreements with the accused . Mirror online. May 14, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2014.
  17. ↑ "On the ship I am the first after God" . sueddeutsche.de. December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Costa Concordia" -Havarie: Captain Schettino from July to justice . Mirror online. May 22, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  19. ↑ a b c Before judgment against Schettino: The 6 most important questions . focus online. February 10, 2015. Accessed February 10, 2015.
  20. ^ "Costa Concordia" trial: Prosecution calls for 26 years in prison for Schettino . Mirror online. January 26, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  21. ↑ 16 years imprisonment for Captain Schettino. In: NZZ. February 11, 2015, accessed February 11, 2015 .
  22. ↑ No risk of fleeing: “Costa Concordia” captain remains at large . Mirror online. February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  23. ↑ Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino sentenced to 16 years in prison. Berliner Zeitung, July 22, 2015, accessed on May 31, 2016
  24. ↑ Schettino appeals - and remains at large . RP Digital. February 12, 2015. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  25. ↑ Spiegel Online from May 31, 2016: Appeal judgment in the "Costa Concordia" case: Schettino is said to have been imprisoned for 16 years
  26. ↑ Il Tirreno of May 31, 2015: 'Schettino, confermata la condanna a 16 anni'
  27. ↑ Tagesspiegel.de May 31, 2016: Captain Schettino also sentenced to long imprisonment in the second instance , accessed on the same day
  28. ^ Regina Kerner: Harsh judgment against Schettino confirmed . Frankfurter Rundschau. May 31, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  29. ↑ Constanze Reuscher: It is possible that “Captain Feigling” will now be acquitted . WORLD & N24. April 20, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  30. ↑ FAZ.net
  31. ↑ 16 years imprisonment for "Costa Concordia captain . St. Galler Tagblatt. May 12, 2017. Archived from the original on September 10, 2017. Retrieved on May 12, 2017.
  32. ^ After the shipwreck: Ex- "Costa Concordia" captain sues before human rights court
personal data
SURNAME Schettino, Francesco
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian captain
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Castellammare di Stabia , Province of Naples , Campania