May 27th, 2011 
davidguide Rome, Italy (AHN) – A judge in L’Aquila, Italy has ordered the trial of seven local seismologists charged with manslaughter for interpreting tremors in the town in March 2009 as unlikely to lead to an earthquake.
A 6.3 magnitude temblor struck L’Aquila on April 6, 2009 but 309 residents who believed the wrong assessment of the seismologists and did not evacuate were killed when their homes collapsed.
Judge Giuseppe Romano Gargarella set the trial of Bernardo De Bernardinis, Enzo Boschi, Giulio Selvaggi, Franco Barberi, Claudio Eva, Mauro Dolce and Gian Michele Calvi on September 20.
De Bernardinis asked colleagues to assess the seismic activities in L’Aquila on March 31, 2009. Later, he announced in a press conference and on TV that the tremors do not pose risk of an earthquake.
Public Prosecutor of L’Aquila Fabio Picuti filed manslaughter charges against the seismologists in June 2010 saying they misinformed the public and indirectly caused the deaths of residents they had reassured.
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