Italian farm owner sentenced to 16 years for death of worker Satnam Singh
A court in Latina convicted Antonello Lovato of voluntary homicide for abandoning the Indian farmworker with a severed arm instead of calling for help. The case became a symbol of the fight against illegal gangmastering in Italy.
The incident
In June 2024, Satnam Singh, a 31-year-old Indian farmworker, was working at an agricultural company near Latina when his arm was severed by a wrapping machine. Instead of calling emergency services, his employer Antonello Lovato loaded him into a van and left him in front of his home, with the amputated limb placed in a fruit crate. Singh died in hospital the following day. A medical-legal report later found that he would likely have survived if he had received prompt assistance.
- Satnam Singh's arm is severed by a wrapping machine at the farm.
- Singh dies in hospital after being abandoned without medical help.
- Antonello Lovato sentenced to 16 years for voluntary homicide.
The trial and verdict
On 8 July 2026, the Assize Court of Latina convicted Lovato of voluntary homicide with eventual intent, sentencing him to 16 years in prison. The court recognized generic mitigating circumstances. Prosecutors had requested a 22-year sentence. The defense argued that the charge should be reduced to manslaughter, claiming there was no proof of a causal link between Lovato's conduct and the death.
The death of Satnam Singh is the death of a man who could have been saved, a life that did not end suddenly, but slowly.
I do not accept a conviction for having wanted to take a man's life. I am certain I did not want his death: I believe in justice and I believe in this Court.
Reactions and appeal
Lovato's lawyer, Mario Antinucci, said he would appeal the verdict to the Rome Court of Appeal, expressing confidence in the higher court. Outside the courthouse, Singh's parents, his partner Soni, and other farmworkers gathered at a protest organized by the CGIL trade union.
The prosecution had asked for 22 years for voluntary homicide in the form of eventual intent. The defense had asked to reformulate the charge as manslaughter with the aggravating circumstance of violating workplace safety rules, explaining that there was no proof of the causal link between Lovato's conduct and the victim's death.
A symbol of exploitation
The case has become a symbol of the fight against caporalato, the illegal gangmaster system that exploits migrant workers in Italy's agricultural sector. Gianpiero Cioffredi of the anti-mafia association Libera said the verdict "restores strength to the principle that the life of those who work cannot be treated as disposable goods sacrificed for profit." He called for concrete institutional action, including stricter inspections, criminal liability for companies that profit from exploitation, and the abolition of the Bossi-Fini law, which he said fosters exclusion and marginality.
Our hunger for justice does not end in a courtroom. The indignation over Satnam's death must turn into concrete commitment by institutions in the fight against caporalato and exploitation in the agri-food chain.
