Is there anywhere to find all of the facts? This article doesn't give background info.
It took some digging to find that indeed the scientists had given a reassuring statement, though it had an expected but-we-cant-be-sure admonition, beforehand.
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100622/full/465992a.html
In particular, at least one member of the civil defense bureaucracy went out of his way to say there was a consensus that there was no danger (even though there was not such a strong consensus):
"Immediately after that meeting, De Bernardinis and Barberi, acting president of the committee, held a press conference in L'Aquila, where De Bernardinis told reporters that "the scientific community tells us there is no danger, because there is an ongoing discharge of energy. The situation looks favorable". No other members of the committee were at the press conference."
There should be consequences for such grave misrepresentations. I was surprised to see that the whole committee is being punished, though, and not just the official who misrepresented the state of knowledge.
Maybe, as some other commenters have noted, this is part of a ritual of condemnation at the first judicial level and absolution upon appeal to the second or third level.
"Italy puts seismology in the dock" ?
is it meant to be "in the dark" ?
Definition of DOCK
: the place in a criminal court where a prisoner stands or sits during trial
— in the dock
: on trial
Commonly used in British/Commonwealth English, and Nature is based in London. I don't think I've ever heard it used in American English.
Only criminal defendants are in the dock.
Any witness would "on the stand" including a defendant who is called as a witness.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witness_stand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtroom
Bertolaso first tells Stati that they did badly by saying the media that they didn't expect more earthquakes (as they did the day before, after a small shake that did no damage). Bertolaso added that he would fix this error with the media and send the most important scientists he knows to "quiet down" the population, upset by the previous message and by the continuous shakes. The accusation is that scientists didn't actually report what they knew, but they went in front of the media to "quiet" down the population.
Unfortunately, the day after the big earthquake happened and 309 people died.