The Bianchi brothers were stripped of their life sentences for the murder of Willy Monteiro

They are destined to cause discussion of the reasons for the sentence that removed the life sentence from the Bianchi brothers for the murder of Willy Monteiro Duarte which took place on 6 September 2020. «It cannot be ignored that the White brothers are completely unrelated to the initial conflict which then provoked the violent attack, that the defendants’ conduct ended in a short period of time and that the beating was also attributable to the other defendants”. For this reason the Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to 24 years.

According to what the reasons for the sentence say, the Court of Appeal decided to grant general mitigating circumstances to the brothers Marco and Gabriele Bianchi because they were unrelated to the initial quarrel and have no blame to share with the other defendants in the beating of Willy Monteiro Duarte. And then there is the question of time: the beating lasted “only” 40 seconds.

For the other defendants, the sentences imposed at first instance were confirmed: 23 years to Francesco Belleggia and 21 to Mario Pincarelli. All four would have run and accepted the risk of being able to kill the 21-year-old from Paliano in Colleferro with their blows. Hence the charge of voluntary manslaughter due to possible malice

Compared to the Court of Frosinone, the Court of Appeal gives less weight to the fact that the final beating is triggered by the arrival of the Whites. However, the reconstruction of the facts was confirmed according to which the attack began with the violent kick launched by Gabriele Bianchi to Willy’s chest followed by a punch again launched by Bianchi on the boy who was trying to get up. The Court underlines that “it must be considered with certainty that all the accused actively took part in the beating”. And he explains: «They immediately join the Bianchi brothers and hit Willy with a violent kick to the head and with kicks and punches when Willy now lands helpless».