Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says the prosecution argued that the scientists were "just too reassuring" 
 
 Six Italian scientists and an ex-government official have been sentenced to six years in prison over the 2009 deadly earthquake in L'Aquila. 
 
 A regional court found them guilty of multiple manslaughter. 
 
 Prosecutors said the defendants gave a falsely reassuring statement before the quake, while the defence maintained there was no way to predict major quakes. 
 
 The 6.3 magnitude quake devastated the city and killed 309 people. 
 
 Many smaller tremors had rattled the area in the months before the quake that destroyed much of the historic centre. 
 
 It took Judge Marco Billi slightly more than four hours to reach the verdict in the trial, which had begun in September 2011. 
 
 Lawyers have said that they will appeal against the sentence. As convictions are not definitive until after at least one level of appeal in Italy, it is unlikely any of the defendants will immediately face prison. 
 
 'Alarming' case 
 
 The seven - all members of the National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks - were accused of having provided "inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory" information about the danger of the tremors felt ahead of 6 April 2009 quake, Italian media report. 
 
 Analysis The Apennines, the belt of mountains that runs down through the centre of Italy, is riddled with faults, and the "Eagle" city of L'Aquila has been hammered time and time again by earthquakes. Its glorious old buildings have had to be patched up and re-built on numerous occasions. Sadly, the issue is not "if" but "when" the next tremor will occur in L'Aquila. But it is simply not possible to be precise about the timing of future events. Science does not possess that power. The best it can do is talk in terms of risk and of probabilities, the likelihood that an event of a certain magnitude might occur at some point in the future. The decision to prosecute some of Italy's leading geophysicists drew condemnation from around the world. The scholarly bodies said it had been beyond anyone to predict exactly what would happen in L'Aquila on 6 April 2009. But the authorities who pursued the seven defendants stressed that the case was never about the power of prediction - it was about what was interpreted to be an inadequate characterisation of the risks; of being misleadingly reassuring about the dangers that faced their city. Nonetheless, the verdicts will come as a shock to all researchers in Italy whose expertise lies in the field of assessing natural hazards. Their pronouncements will be scrutinised as never before, and their fear will be that they too could find themselves embroiled in legal action over statements that are inherently uncertain. 
 
 In addition to their sentences, all have been barred from ever holding public office again, La Repubblica reports. 
 
 In the closing statement, the prosecution quoted one of its witnesses, whose father died in the earthquake. 
 
 It described how Guido Fioravanti had called his mother at about 11:00 on the night of the earthquake - straight after the first tremor. 
 
 "I remember the fear in her voice. On other occasions they would have fled but that night, with my father, they repeated to themselves what the risk commission had said. And they stayed." 
 
 'Hasty sentence' 
 
 The judge also ordered the defendants to pay court costs and damages. 
 
 Reacting to the verdict against him, Bernardo De Bernardinis said: "I believe myself to be innocent before God and men." 
 
 "My life from tomorrow will change," the former vice-president of the Civil Protection Agency's technical department said, according to La Repubblica. 
 
 "But, if I am judged by all stages of the judicial process to be guilty, I will accept my responsibility." 
 
 Another, Enzo Boschi, described himself as "dejected" and "desperate" after the verdict was read. 
 
 "I thought I would have been acquitted. I still don't understand what I was convicted of." 
 
 One of the lawyers for the defence, Marcello Petrelli, described the sentences as "hasty" and "incomprehensible". 
 
 'Inherently unpredictable' 
 
 The case has alarmed many in the scientific community, who feel science itself has been put on trial. 
 
 THOSE CONVICTED Franco Barberi , head of Serious Risks Commission 
 
 , head of Serious Risks Commission Enzo Boschi , former president of the National Institute of Geophysics 
 
 , former president of the National Institute of Geophysics Giulio Selvaggi , director of National Earthquake Centre 
 
 , director of National Earthquake Centre Gian Michele Calvi , director of European Centre for Earthquake Engineering 
 
 , director of European Centre for Earthquake Engineering Claudio Eva , physicist 
 
 , physicist Mauro Dolce , director of the the Civil Protection Agency's earthquake risk office 
 
 , director of the the Civil Protection Agency's earthquake risk office Bernardo De Bernardinis (pictured), former vice-president of Civil Protection Agency's technical department 
 
 Some scientists have warned that the case might set a damaging precedent, deterring experts from sharing their knowledge with the public for fear of being targeted in lawsuits, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome reports. 
 
 Among those convicted were some of Italy's most prominent and internationally respected seismologists and geological experts. 
 
 Earlier, more than 5,000 scientists signed an open letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in support of the group in the dock. 
 
 After the verdict was announced, David Rothery, of the UK's Open University, said earthquakes were "inherently unpredictable". 
 
 "The best estimate at the time was that the low-level seismicity was not likely to herald a bigger quake, but there are no certainties in this game," he said. 
 
 Malcolm Sperrin, director of medical physics at the UK's Royal Berkshire Hospital said that the sentence was surprising and could set a worrying precedent. 
 
 "If the scientific community is to be penalised for making predictions that turn out to be incorrect, or for not accurately predicting an event that subsequently occurs, then scientific endeavour will be restricted to certainties only and the benefits that are associated with findings from medicine to physics will be stalled." ||||| The Italian government has a long and storied history of being distrustful and ignorant of science. Who can forget the tragedy of Galileo Galilei, the famous Italian scientist and astronomer who died under house arrest because he tried to figure things out instead of saying, “Meh, God is unknowable.” 
 
 Of course, an Italian would probably say “Suvvia! A lot has changed since the 1630s.” Then he’d look at all the women wearing tight jeans and applaud America’s rape prevention campaign. 
 
 Sure, the Italian legal system may have evolved to the point where it’s not arresting people for using telescopes and math, but it still has a long way to go before it shows a competent understanding of modern science. 
 
 In fact, it’s probably too much to ask Italian courts to understand science. I think the industrialized world would be happy if we could just get Italy to stop convicting scientists for doing their jobs…. 
 
 Yesterday, an Italian court convicted six scientists of manslaughter for not predicting an earthquake. I was trying to come up with a witty analogy, but I can’t think of anything quite like convicting people for manslaughter for not predicting something that is fundamentally unpredictable. It’s not like the Germans convicted Heisenberg for equivocation. If you beat up a weatherman for not predicting the rain that ruined your day at the beach, you’d be vastly more reasonable, knowledgeable, and merciful than this Italian court. 
 
 From CNN (gavel bang: ABA Journal): 
 
 The court in L’Aquila sentenced the scientists and a government official Monday to six years in prison, ruling that they didn’t accurately communicate the risk of the earthquake in 2009 that killed more than 300 people. The trial centered on a meeting a week before the 6.3-magnitude quake struck. At the meeting, the experts determined that it was “unlikely” but not impossible that a major quake would take place, despite concern among the city’s residents over recent seismic activity. Prosecutors said the defendants provided “inaccurate, incomplete and contradictory information about the dangers” facing L’Aquila. 
 
 No, you freaking idiots, THE EARTH provided inaccurate, incomplete, and contradictory information about whether or not she was going to destroy your insignificant human settlement. The scientists were just trying to make a guess. If you are going to blame somebody for the loss of life — you know, other than your precious “God” — why don’t you blame buildings I’m sure weren’t built to the maximum level of earthquake safety? 
 
 What kind of legal system charges people for not predicting the future? 
 
 Comments from one of the defendants — Enzo Boschi, the former president of the [Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology] — suggested the scientists were shellshocked by their conviction. “I’m dejected, despairing. I still don’t understand what I’m accused of,” Boschi said after the ruling, according to ANSA, Italy’s official news agency. 
 
 You know, when you build a well so deep that it can’t be fixed if it breaks, then it breaks and you lie about it, that’s not a “natural” disaster, that’s a stupid human failure. But when an earthquake wrecks your town, looking for somebody to blame seems like a poor use of human and judicial time. 
 
 The next time a town gets leveled by a natural disaster, maybe the Italian courts should convict the town’s priests for not praying hard enough to escape God’s wrath. 
 
 Scientists aghast over Italian quake verdicts [CNN] 
 
 Italian Court Convicts Earthquake Experts for Failing to Adequately Warn of Impending Disaster [ABA Journal]
– Predicting earthquakes is shaky business at best, but that detail isn't stopping Italian officials from prosecuting a group of prominent scientists over their failure to do exactly that. Six scientists and one government official face charges of manslaughter for allegedly failing to provide adequate warning of imminent disaster to locals after the region was struck by more than 400 low-magnitude tremors in the months preceding a major quake. The group of experts met in 2009 to analyze the risk posed by the seismic activity, but didn't find cause to raise alarm. Six days later, a major quake devastated the central Italian city of L'Aquila and killed 309 people, reports the AFP. Among the defendants are some of Italy's top scientists in the field. "You cannot put science on trial," says a defense lawyer, citing his client's statement during the expert panel meeting that "one cannot rule out a major quake." The group has gained the wide support of the scientific community. But "no one expected to be told the exact time of the quake," says a doctor who lost his wife and daughter in the quake. "We just wanted to be warned that we were sitting on a bomb." The trial opened today, and the BBC notes that seven defendants face up to 15 years in jail.