Sargonia Dankha, a 21-year-old woman, disappeared from Linköping, Sweden, on November 13, 1995. Her ex-boyfriend, former Linköping restaurateur Salvatore Aldobrandi, was arrested and later convicted of her murder in December 2024, receiving a life imprisonment sentence. Aldobrandi appealed the conviction, leading to a hearing at the Court of Appeal in Genoa, Italy.
During the appeal, Aldobrandi arrived late and used a crutch, while Dankha's family did not attend. This followed earlier behavior where, during the district court trial in Imperia, Aldobrandi received several warnings for acting threateningly and disrespectfully in the courtroom. The Court of Appeal in Genoa overturned the life sentence, sentencing Aldobrandi to 14 years in prison for murder after finding mitigating circumstances, though the specific reasons for the reduction will be detailed in the written judgment.
We did not know if it would be possible, to my knowledge it has never been done before. But when we initiated legal cooperation with Sweden, and saw the thorough investigation they had done, we understood that it might work.
The case is complex, as no body has been found, and there is a gravestone with Dankha's name, but her actual burial location remains unknown. According to Aftonbladet, Francesco Rubino, the Italian lawyer representing Dankha's family, described the legal cooperation with Sweden as unprecedented, noting that it was the first time an Italian citizen has been tried in Italy for a murder committed in another country. The evidence and testimonies are three decades old, and Italian media reported extensively on the case.
Aldobrandi has always denied the crime. According to Aftonbladet, Sargonia's family described not being completely satisfied with the sentence length but acknowledged that her exposure to violence by Aldobrandi and her murder by him have been confirmed again.
We are not completely satisfied with the length of the sentence. But that she was subjected to violence by Aldobrandi, and murdered by him, is again confirmed.