Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 21, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleSix Italian officials face trial for negligence in the Cutro migrant shipwreck, which resulted in over 90 deaths. Trial begins in January.
ROME (Reuters) -An Italian judge on Monday ordered six police and coastguard officers to stand trial for mishandling operations during a migrant shipwreck that killed more than 90 people near the town of Cutro in 2023, media reports said.
The migrant accident, one of the deadliest in Italy's history, involved a wooden sailboat that set out from Turkey and smashed apart on rocks within sight of a beach near the shore of the southern Calabria region.
The officials -- two from the coastguard and four from the Guardia di Finanza police force -- have been charged with multiple manslaughter related to negligence that may have contributed to the shipwreck, according to Ansa news agency.
Under Italian law, prosecutors have to ask a judge whether to call a formal trial for the suspects after wrapping up their probe. Ansa said the trial is due to start in January.
The decision to order the trial against the six suspects triggered an angry reaction from Matteo Salvini, the leader of the anti-immigrant League party and deputy prime minister in the right-wing government of Giorgia Meloni.
"A single word: SHAME. To put on trial six officials who risk their lives every day to save others. SHAME," Salvini wrote on his account on X.
Late last year, in a separate trial connected to the Cutro case, three people were convicted of aiding and abetting illegal immigration causing the death of the migrants and were sentenced to up to 16 years in jail.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Leslie Adler)
The trial was ordered due to allegations of negligence that may have contributed to the migrant shipwreck, which resulted in over 90 deaths.
The officials include two from the coastguard and four from the Guardia di Finanza police force, all charged with multiple manslaughter.
Matteo Salvini expressed outrage, stating it was shameful to put officials on trial who risk their lives daily to save others.
The trial is scheduled to begin in January, following the completion of the prosecutor's investigation.
In a separate trial last year, three individuals were convicted of aiding illegal immigration, leading to the deaths of migrants, and received sentences of up to 16 years.
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