Italian lawyers' strike may delay Costa Concordia trial
Italian lawyers will go on strike next week, they said on Thursday, to protest at measures aimed at streamlining civil trials and at the justice minister's accusation that they were blocking reforms. The strike, expected to affect trials taking place between July 8 and July 16, including that of Francesco Schettino, captain of the Costa Concordia, who is accused of manslaughter for running the cruise liner into a rock last year, causing 32 deaths when it capsized, the Maritime Executive reports.
The strike was called after Prime Minister Enrico Letta's government passed a decree aimed at accelerating civil trials, which now last an average of about four years. Justice Minister Annamaria Cancellieri - a technocrat who was interior minister in the previous government, headed by Mario Monti - antagonised lawyers on Tuesday when she told a business conference in Rome: "The lawyers, the major lobbies, block our country from becoming a normal one."
