Post by Francesco Simon Artibani

After 34 years, Italians are still waiting for the full truth about the relationship between the State and organized crime. After 34 years, there is still no justice for the families of the judges brutally murdered, with investigations and judicial proceedings hindered or mishandled. The Borsellino quater trial established that the original investigation was built on a coached false witness, and that this failure was not accidental. Someone within the institutions responsible for finding the truth chose, instead, to bury it. The Court of Cassation also found that a negotiation occurred between the Italian State and the mafia, but held that this was not criminally attributable to the individual officials involved. That an individual is not criminally liable does not mean an institution bears no responsibility. Courts adjudicate personal guilt; they do not settle the question of systemic failure. This is what must be kept in mind when thinking about the state of corruption, judical independence, and the Rule of Law in Italy, just as it does in the EU: as put by Article 40, comma 2 of the Codice Penale: not preventing an event you have a legal duty to prevent is equivalent to causing it (“Non impedire un evento, che si ha l’obbligo giuridico di impedire, equivale a cagionarlo”). May we never forget, may the work of men like Borsellino inspire our own work and lives.