The quake devastated the medieval town of L'Aquila five years ago
A
group of Italian scientists who faced jail after they failed to predict a
deadly earthquake have had their convictions quashed.
The seven men were given six-year jail sentences after an
earthquake devastated the medieval town of L'Aquila in 2009, killing 309
people.The verdict triggered alarm, with some saying that science itself had been put on trial.
But on Monday an appeals court cleared the group of manslaughter charges.
"The credibility of Italy's entire scientific community has been restored," said Stefano Gresta, the president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
The seven men - all leading scientists or disaster experts - had been members of a committee convened in L'Aquila in March 2009 following a series of tremors in the region.
Days after they met, a 6.3 magnitude quake struck the town in the middle of the night.
L'Aquila's residents at the hearing showed their disappointment with the verdict
Many of L'Aquila's medieval buildings were destroyed, and some
locals blamed the disaster committee for not providing adequate advice.Prosecutors in the subsequent trial said the experts had offered falsely reassuring information to residents.
According to Reuters, they noted that one committee member had said there was "no danger" from the tremors.
Following the guilty verdicts, more than 5,000 scientists signed an open letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in support of the experts.
Many argued that the convictions represented a fundamental misunderstanding of earthquake science.
Friday's decision to overturn the verdicts came after a month-long appeal process.
The prosecution can still seek to have the original verdicts reinstated via a higher court.
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The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says the prosecution argued that the scientists were "just too reassuring"