Italy’s highest court has upheld the 16-year jail sentence given to Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia, which capsized in 2012 killing 32 people.
The sentence included 10 years for manslaughter, five for causing the shipwreck, one for abandoning the ship before passengers and crew were clear, and one month for lying to the authorities afterwards.
Friday’s ruling exhausted his appeals process, with the court rejecting his claim that others bore the blame for the disaster.
He had handed himself in to the Rebibbia prison in Rome after the verdict, his lawyer said.
Schettino was commanding the vessel, which was carrying more than 4 200 passengers and crew, on January 13, 2012, when it hit rocks off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio, tearing a hole in its side and eventually forcing it to keel over.
Five colleagues were also jailed for up to three years in earlier cases.
