A verdict is due in the trial of six Italian scientists and an ex-government official charged with manslaughter over the 2009 earthquake in L'Aquila.
The 6.3 magnitude quake devastated the city and killed 309 people.
Prosecutors allege the defendants gave a falsely reassuring statement before the quake after studying hundreds of tremors that had shaken the city.
The defence has argued that there is no way to predict major earthquakes even in a seismically active area.
The case has alarmed many in the scientific community, who feel science itself has been put on trial. More than 5,000 scientists signed an open letter to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in support of the defendants.
But Wania della Vigna, lawyer for 11 plaintiffs, said the defendants should be found guilty. "They were not expected to predict the earthquake, but they were expected to alert people to the risks".
Families of the victims and some of the survivors were in court for the verdict.
'Medieval law'Prosecutor Fabio Picuti wants each of them jailed for four years, AFP news agency reports.
In his summing up, Mr Picuti told the court that the defendants had provided "an incomplete, inept, unsuitable and criminally mistaken" analysis which gave the residents of L'Aquila a false sense of security and led many to stay indoors when the first tremors hit.
The seven defendants were members of a government panel, the Serious Risks Commission, tasked with assessing the risks after hundreds of low-level tremors had rattled the medieval city in the months before the earthquake struck.
- Franco Barberi, head of Serious Risks Commission
- Enzo Boschi, former president of the National Institute of Geophysics
- Giulio Selvaggi, director of the National Earthquake Centre
- Gian Michele Calvi, director of European Centre for Earthquake Engineering
- Claudio Eva, physicist
- Mauro Dolce, director of the the Civil Protection Agency's earthquake risk office
- Bernardo De Bernardinis, former vice-president of the Civil Protection Agency's technical department
A week before the quake, they issued a reassuring statement, while also saying that it was not possible to predict whether a stronger quake would occur.
They also recommended stricter enforcement of anti-seismic measures, particularly in building construction.
In the minutes of their meeting, held on 31 March 2009, Enzo Boschi, the former president of the National Institute of Geophysics, is reported to have told the group that just because a number of small tremors had been observed, it did not mean that a major earthquake was on its way.
Franco Barberi, who headed the Serious Risks Commission, was also reported to have concluded that there was "no reason to believe that a series of low-level tremors was a precursor to a larger event".
On the night of the quake, many people are commonly believed to have remained in their homes and died because of this advice, while others who had decided to remain outside in the street survived.
Defence lawyers are seeking acquittal for the seven.
Government lawyer Carlo Sica said: "They are not guilty of anything, the earthquake's no-one's fault."
Filippo Dinacci, lawyer for Mauro Dolce and Bernardo De Bernardinis, has called the charges something out of "medieval criminal law".
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