Rome, September 23 - Prosecutors on Tuesday requested that an appeal court reverse the acquittals of several police officers and nurses accused in the case of Stefano Cucchi, a 31-year-old man who died in custody in 2009. Cucchi died while in police custody at Rome's Pertini prison hospital on October 22, 2009, one week after being arrested on a drug charge. At the first-instance trial last year, five doctors and a hospital staff member were convicted, but three police guards and three nurses were acquitted, sparking anger and outrage from Cucchi's friends and family who screamed killers as the sentence was read out in court. The first-instance judges said Cucchi's condition was not properly treated by hospital staff and that his death was caused by a severe shortage of food and liquids. The prosecution, however, maintains that Cucchi was beaten in custody too. An autopsy shortly after Cucchi's death found he was severely dehydrated and also had two broken vertebrae and internal organ damage. In addition to reversing the acquittals, the prosecutor also requested that the sentences for those convicted at the first trial be increased. Hospital director Aldo Fierro was sentenced to two years, physicians Stefania Cordi, Flaminia Bruno, Luigi De Marchis and Silvia Di Carlo one year and four months, and staff member Rosita Caponetti eight months. The guilty are on parole rather than serving prison time.
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