'Scientists should get four years for failing to predict L'Aquila earthquake' But the advice they issued was described by Fabio Picuti, a prosecutor in the trial, as "banal, useless, self-contradictory and mistaken." The court heard that Enzo Boschi, a member of the panel and a former director of the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology, allegedly told concerned locals: "I would reject (the possibility) of an earthquake." Mr Picuti, the prosecutor, said: "People died because of this phrase." Prosecutors claim that clearer information would have allowed the inhabitants of the city, the capital of the Abruzzo region, to evaluate the threat and decide whether to evacuate. After the main earthquake struck, L'Aquila and the surrounding area was shaken by another 250 powerful aftershocks within 48 hours. The quake caused damage worth an estimated 10 billion euros, with large parts of L'Aquila still abandoned and resembling a ghost town. The trial started in Sept 2011 and is expected to finish next month. Defence lawyers will present their final arguments on October 9 and 10. Scientists around the world have criticised the trial as unjust, saying that current technology does not allow the prediction of quakes. Last year more than 5,000 scientists sent an open letter sent to Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's president, criticising the trial. The American Association for the Advancement of Science also expressed its concern over the trial, saying that the charges had "no merit." "The charges against these scientists are both unfair and naive," the association said in a letter to President Napolitano. It was mistaken to think that the scientists could have alerted the people of L'Aquila to the possibility of an earthquake, the association said. There is no way they could have done that credibly.