Overview
- The Corte di Cassazione annulled the eight‑month convictions of Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro with the formula “perché il fatto non sussiste,” ending the criminal proceedings against them.
- The Court followed the Procuratore generale Cristina Marzagalli’s argument that there was no refusal of official acts and that the conduct lacked both the material and subjective elements of the charged offence.
- Brescia judges had convicted the two magistrates in rulings beginning with an October 8, 2024 decision and had confirmed eight‑month sentences on appeal before the defendants took their case to Cassation.
- Defence lawyers praised the verdict as vindication after years of proceedings, and the Court’s written reasons will be published later to explain the legal basis for the annullamento senza rinvio.
- The prosecutions grew out of disputes over whether documents from a related investigation into the OPL245 sale should have been disclosed in the wider Eni‑Nigeria probe, a main trial that itself ended with acquittals in 2021.