Overview
- The Cagliari tribunal scheduled Juana Rivas and her adult son to testify on February 26 as witnesses identified in the case file as persons harmed.
- Francesco Arcuri is due to testify shortly after, with additional prosecution and defense witnesses slated for March as the trial calendar takes shape.
- The judge refused the defense request to appoint a special guardian for the 11-year-old at this stage, leaving the child represented by a lawyer selected by Rivas unless a conflict arises.
- Italian prosecutors’ indictment accuses Arcuri of repeated physical and psychological maltreatment of the children, while the court previously rejected a defense bid to dismiss the case; Arcuri denies the allegations.
- In a separate Spanish proceeding, Rivas must appear in Granada on October 30 in an investigation over the younger child’s seven-month stay in Spain before a court-ordered handover to his father on July 25.