Fatos Cenaj murder, accused confesses in court in Padua

"It was me, I ask for forgiveness." The trial for the murder of 59-year-old Fatos Cenaj, former penitentiary policeman in Albania, opened with a spontaneous confession before the judges of the Assize Court of Padua. According to the prosecution represented by the public prosecutor Maria D'Arpa in charge of the investigation, it was 45-year-old Moreno Violetto who killed him.

The accused, assisted by the lawyer Stefano Marrone of the Venice Bar, stood up and confessed before the start of the hearing. A few words followed by the delivery to the judges of a check made out to the civil parties for 5,000 euros.

Practically everything that remains in the bank account of the accused has been arrested since the police closed the investigation into his account. Violetto has been accused of voluntary homicide aggravated by premeditation and futile motives, and risks being sentenced to life imprisonment. But with today's move the judges should take account of the decisive procedural conduct of the accused which in fact greatly shortens the trial time. The lawyer Alessia Clementi, who is a civil party for Fatos' family, has already asked for damages of hundreds of thousands of euros.

The next two hearings will be scheduled for today, presumably the first instance sentence could be pronounced by the end of this year.