Bologna appeals court reduces sentence to 15 years for 2024 murder of 13-year-old Aurora Tila

Appeal ruling and sentence reduction

The juvenile section of the Bologna Court of Appeal reduced the prison sentence of a 17-year-old youth from 17 to 15 years on 10 September 2026 for the murder of his former girlfriend. The judges granted generic mitigating circumstances following a formal request from deputy general prosecutor Silvia Marzocchi. That petition followed the defendant's confession during a video hearing on 13 July 2026 at the opening of the second-degree trial. The defendant, who was 15 years old at the time of the offense and did not appear by link on the day of the ruling, had previously denied responsibility throughout the initial trial.

Circumstances of the 2024 killing

The crime occurred on the morning of 25 October 2024 at a residential building in Piacenza, where 13-year-old Aurora Tila lived. Investigators established that the youth threw Tila from a seventh-floor balcony after a dispute, striking her hands with his knees to force her to release her grip on the railing. In earlier statements to police, the defendant claimed that Tila had leaned over too far by accident or jumped voluntarily, accounts rejected by prosecutors and judges based on eyewitness testimonies. The first-degree court convicted him of voluntary homicide aggravated by stalking, the minor age of the victim, and their prior romantic relationship. Court records documented months of threatening and violent conduct toward Tila, who had consulted an artificial intelligence tool on how to end the relationship prior to their final meeting.

Family reaction and appeal for institutional reform

The reduction in prison time drew condemnation from the victim's family and their legal representative. Emilio Malaspina, the attorney representing the victim's mother, criticized the prosecution's petition for leniency and addressed the age of the victim.

Aurora was 13 years old, the youngest femicide victim in Europe.

The victim's mother, Morena Corbellini, attended the closed-door proceedings in Bologna and called for legislative changes regarding juvenile penalties. Corbellini also filed a police complaint regarding reports that the defendant had conducted live broadcasts on social media platforms from within his detention facility.

The youngest victim was not considered. Femicides will increase, since perpetrators know that the penalties are nothing. Even minors will kill more and more. Either the prime minister intervenes and fixes this, or it will only get worse.

Corbellini reiterated that minor offenders require stricter accountability and questioned whether judicial officials handled the trial appropriately.