An Italian court has upheld the sentence passed down to Francesco Schettino, the captain of the Costa Concordia when it sank off the coast of Italy in 2012, killing 32 passengers and crew.
Schettino was given a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of several counts of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning passengers when the Concordia hit a reef off Giglio island.
The appeals court rejected his bid to have the conviction overturned and an application by prosecutors to increase the sentence to 27 years.
Schettino had admitted responsibility in part but denied he was culpable for the deaths.
"The blame is shared, the problem is quantifying it," Schettino’s lawyer Donato Laino said after the verdict.
After the original court verdict, a court said Schettino will not go to prison until the appeals process is fully exhausted. He is allowed one final appeal to Italy’s highest court.
