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Lawyer's strike could delay Concordia trial

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Lawyer's strike could delay Concordia trial
Costa Concordia claimed 32 lives when it crashed into rocks off the island of Giglio. Photo: AFP

A court official has warned that national strike by Italian lawyers could delay the start of the manslaughter trial of the Costa Concordia's captain, charged for the cruise liner's deadly shipwreck in January 2012.

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The first hearing will take place as scheduled on Tuesday, but if defendant Francesco Schettino's lawyers tell the judge they are adhering to the strike, then the trial will get under way only on July 17th.

"We cannot know ahead of time," the official at the court in Grosseto, the nearest town to the site of the wreck, told the AFP on Thursday.

The next hearings after Tuesday are set for July 17th, 18th and 19th.

Travelling with 4,229 people from 70 countries on board, the cruise ship crashed into rocks off the island of Giglio and keeled over, sparking a panicky evacuation in a disaster that claimed 32 lives.

Schettino has been charged with multiple counts of manslaughter, as well with causing an environmental disaster, and abandoning the ship before all the passengers had been evacuated.

Four other crew members and a manager from ship owner Costa Crociere, Europe's top cruise operator, have agreed plea bargains which are likely to be confirmed in separate hearings.

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