Garlasco crime, geneticist Portera: "I did not perform genetic analyses"

"I did not personally carry out the genetic analysis of the sample nor did I evaluate or interpret any genetic profile relating to the Garlasco case during my service at the Parma Ris". This was stated by Giorgio Portera, geneticist and retired officer from the force, heard by the Pavia prosecutor's office as part of the new investigation into the Garlasco crime.

"The connection of my person to the analytical activities of the BU_P sample", he specifies regarding the genetic material on the pedals of Stasi's bike, "derives from the registration of an access with my personal user during the last processing phase of the specific trace".

For Portera, "it is important to clearly distinguish the technical activity on an instrument from the responsibility for the analysis, evaluation and interpretation of genetic profiles, activities which, in this specific case, have never been carried out by me. In fact, I have never carried out any inspection - he underlines - nor signed reports or reports of the Garlasco case".

"The activity to which my access can be traced back - continues the geneticist - consisted exclusively of the final phase of loading the sample onto the sequencer. I cannot today establish with certainty whether this operation was actually carried out by me or by a colleague who allowed me to access the instrument using my username".

"It was, therefore, a mere technical and instrumental activity, i.e. the insertion of a sample already worked on by others, an activity devoid of any interpretation of the results, included in the management of one of the numerous traces subjected to analysis - he reiterates -. The completely marginal nature of this activity is further confirmed by the fact that only today, years later and following the disclosure of the details relating to the raw data, I traced that access to the sample in question, recalling an episode which, at the time, was part of the normal daily management of numerous samples".