CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Is it Possible to be Responsible but Not Guilty for 43 Deaths?

The Morandi Bridge after the collapse that occurred on August 14, 2018. Photo: Michele Ferraris, Wikimedia. Public Domain.

On August 14, 2018, the Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy, collapsed, killing 43 people and injuring 16 others. Pictures of the shattered bridge, including a truck left hanging on the edge of the broken span, made headlines around the world. Who was responsible for the disaster? On July 16, 2026, after nearly eight years of investigations and proceedings, a Genoa court convicted 32 defendants. The former chief executive of Italy’s largest motorway operator ‌Autostrade per l’Italia, Giovanni Castellucci, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Castellucci said that he felt responsible for the disaster, yet insisted he was not guilty: “Mi sento responsabile, ma non colpevole” (“I feel responsible, but not guilty”).

At first glance, Castellucci’s statement sounds absurd. If you are responsible for 43 deaths, how can you not be guilty? In essence, he was saying: “I accept that, as the leader of the organization, I bear responsibility for what happened. However, I deny that I personally committed the criminal negligence necessary for legal guilt.”

Castellucci accepted responsibility as the company’s chief executive. Harry Truman famously kept a sign on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office that read, “The Buck Stops Here.” Castellucci seemed to express a similar sentiment. He acknowledged that as chief executive of Autostrade per l’Italia, which manages roughly 3,000 kilometers of Italy’s highway network, he should have known about structural problems affecting the bridge. He accepted that responsibility, but not guilt.

Responsibility is not the same as legal guilt. Who was guilty for the bridge’s collapse and 43 deaths? In an investigation of the causes of the disaster, the........

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