Cassazione

In Italy, those who pollute the sea with inadequately treated waste can get away with simply paying a small fine of 150 euros.This was established by a recent ruling with which the Supreme Court expressed its opinion on the illicit release of wastewater into the Adriatic.In Termoli, Molise, several investigations by the judiciary have long recorded the release near the coast of untreated waste with "a contaminating load consisting of ahigh amount of Escherichia coli, a bacterial microorganism originating from civil sewerage systems that is dangerous to human health".The plant, as certified by the Supreme Court, was in fact made operational only when the Molise environmental monitoring agency carried out sampling.For the remaining time the wastewater was instead released directly into the sea without purification.Despite the seriousness of the facts, those responsible will remain unpunished:previously they had been accused of the crime of environmental pollution - which involv...