Torrisi trial: Catania prosecutor's office asks for six years for sexual violence

The Catania Prosecutor's Office has asked the third criminal section of the Court of Appeal to sentence Medicine professor Santo Torrisi to six years, acquitted at first instance in the trial for sexual violence and harassment against female students, committed between 2010 and 2014, at the Vittorio Emanuele-Ferrarotto hospital.

The prosecution was represented in the courtroom by the deputy prosecutor Sebastiano Ardita and the deputy Andrea Ursino. The civil parties joined the Prosecutor's request: four of the seven women identified as offended parties and the university hospital Policlinico di Catania.

The Court of Catania, in the first instance sentence, had held that proof of sexual violence had not been achieved because the professor would have "placed his palms on the breasts" of a student but "without particular pressure of the hands".

The Court of Appeal adjourned the trial until September 18th for the defense arguments.