Killing of Marta Russo

Her death was the centre of a complex court case that garnered huge media attention owing to the lack of substantial evidence and motive.

After a six-years-long trial Giovanni Scattone was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, and Salvatore Ferraro was declared responsible for aiding and abetting.

Forensic tests showed traces of gunpowder on the sill of a window on the second floor, a reading room in the legal philosophy department.

Telephone records identified one person, Maria Chiara Lipari, the daughter of a professor, who indicated – after many uncertainties – the presence of a secretary, Gabriella Alletto, and other people.

Some famous personalities (like judge of the Aldo Moro kidnapping Ferdinando Imposimato, politician Marco Pannella and journalist Paolo Mieli) claim the innocence of Scattone and Ferraro and publicly defend them.

[1] More than 10,000 students attended Russo's funeral, joined by the Prime Minister Prodi, the Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and other dignitaries.

There was a telephone bill that, combined with other testimonial reports, contradicted many details of the story of Maria Chiara Lipari and indirectly the allegations of Alletto.

[5] After a confirming appeal (2001), at the request of another prosecutor, Court's Attorney General Vincenzo Geraci, the verdict was annulled by the Supreme Court of Cassation for lack of evidence (December 2001); a new appeal reiterated the conviction (2002), then confirmed definitively in 2003 (finally, the punishment consisted to 5 years and four months of prison for Giovanni Scattone, 4 years and two months to Salvatore Ferraro).

After a penalty discount, Scattone ended up serving the sentence in prison (2003–2004) and to house arrest until 2005; later, having the court granted him the complete legal criminal rehabilitation, eliminating perpetual interdictions from public offices, he became a high school professor of philosophy until 2015, when he got a job as a psychology teacher, but resigned following the controversies by the press and the Russo family.