That the controller has been caned harder than anyone else is unbelievable. As an earlier posting said, his errors were not active - he gave correct clearances in correct language. His errors were mostly of omission - failing to question pilot responses that were vague.
The airport signage and taxiway markings were almost all non-ICAO and in poor condition, but the red lighted stop bar that the Cessna pilot taxied across to kill himself and more than a hundred other people was fully serviceable and active. That stop-bar was the last warning, and taxiing across it was like intentionally shooting red lights at a major road junction. And now the controller is going to get the biggest hit for this.
I can't imagine his lawyers won't appeal, and I wish him luck. As for the management, while I believe they deserve to be punished, I was surprised at the length of their sentences. This is definitely "pour encourager les autres", but I don't think hitting people this hard is the best way to do it. It's negligence, yes, but these sentences are the kind that people get when they knew positively that they were risking people's lives. I think that these people are a product of the existing Italian civil service culture, which is laissez faire and whose errors are of omission rather than commission. This is a classic scapegoating action, intended to bury the Linate tragedy so the system can expunge its guilt and go on being they way it was before.
The report is good and thorough. I wish I could believe that Italy's aviation system will learn from what it says, rather than from the court's message, which is loud and clear: "Don't get found out".
shortfinals