Overview
- Judges confirmed guilty verdicts for sequestro di persona tied to irregular expulsion procedures that removed Alma Shalabayeva and her six-year-old daughter to Kazakhstan in May 2013.
- Renato Cortese, Maurizio Improta, Francesco Stampacchia and Luca Armeni received five-year prison terms, while Vincenzo Tramma was sentenced to four years.
- The court replaced the original lifetime ban from public office with a five-year interdiction for all five defendants and ordered payment of costs and damages to the civil parties.
- Defense lawyers said they will appeal to the Court of Cassation, despite the Florence procurator general previously requesting acquittal during the appeal-bis proceedings.
- Written reasons are due in roughly 90 days, as political reactions resurface over a case that previously prompted a top Interior Ministry resignation and later led to asylum for Shalabayeva.