Originally Published: 2009-04-12

After an earlier request for a public inquest was denied, Corrado Castagnetta has decided to launch a civil action lawsuit against the Attorney General and Quebec City, over the death of his son Claudio. The gaps in the investigation, the contradictions brought to light by coroner Stephane Godri, and the implicit negligence by police authorities and prison guards, have impelled the father of the young man who died under mysterious circumstances in September 2007 to take action.
Castagnetta’s deep conviction grew over these long months after witnessing the discrepancies in the account of the tragic incident, as well as omissions and leaked investigations. His conviction was reinforced after his trip to Quebec in March, where he met with his legal representative and carefully scrutinized case files.
“Claudio has left behind an overwhelming emptiness,” Castagnetta told Corriere Canadese/Tandem. “My son had his entire life ahead of him — a future that was taken away. And no one will be able to give that back. I have profound faith in the Quebec judicial system’s judges to clarify the facts and establish the truth.”
Since the tragic death of his son, Castagnetta has crashed into a wall put up by Quebec’s authorities who have impeded the launch of a public inquest that would bring light to a murky and contradiction-filled incident. All this is notwithstanding the continual requests by Liberal MP Joe Volpe, who raised the issue in Parliament, and Italy’s Ambassador to Canada, Gabriele Sardo.
Castagnetta explained, “The political institutions of Quebec and the men with executive powers have erased two essential documents from their memories: The Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which had been sanctioned by Quebec’s National Assembly, and the 1982 Canadian Constitution.”
And this happened, according to Castagnetta, because those who should have protected the most basic of rights – that of life – for a citizen in the state of detention, were not able to do so.

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