The captain of the Costa Concordia Francesco Schettino has been freed from house arrest by the court in Grosseto.
Court had ordered Schettino to stay within the borders of his home town of Meta di Sorrento while the case against him is pending. Costa Concordia captain was charged with multiple counts of manslaughter, causing the accident and abandoning the ship before those aboard had been rescued.
After the accident of Costa Concordia's grounding at Island of Giglio, Tuscany, with 4,229 people aboard he was placed under house arrest.
Costa Crociere SpA have blamed Schettino for the grounding, saying he steered the ship too close to shore.
In a written memo to his lawyers, Schettino repeated claims that the reef — a landmark in the area — wasn't on the ship's charts, and that it was his skill that avoided a head-on collision.
"There are those who say the impact with the stern was caused because I was suffering from a hallucination. What hallucination! It was rather my instinct, my skills, the ability to know the sea and suddenly change direction," he said in the letter, reportedly published in the Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno.
Schettino lawyer, Leporatti said that the former commander of Concord has reacted to the news calmly. By law, house arrest can not exceed six months. We are satisfied that the court has ordered an obligation to stay on Schettino. " The decision of the investigating judge of Grosseto has been notified by police of Meta Schettino, at 12.30, and the first to visit him were his brother Salvatore and his sister Julia. Both have refused to comment. In the afternoon, the president of the Lodge of the captains of Meta, Michael Miccio, went to visit a Schettino. And he has a definite no-comment.
The telephone conversation with the captain Gregorio De Falco, who became a hero with the same speed with which Schettino has become the exact opposite. "Has helped give a false image, a man reviled and insulted. Schettino is a person who from day one has always told the truth. " Leporatti said.
