I was suspicious that things had gone awry in Italian jurisprudence during the trial of Amanda Knox, which was tinged with anti American spite (irregardless of evidence one way or the other, the prosecution played up the spoiled American angle to prejudice the proceedings).

Now, it is official. The Italian criminal court system has gone utterly insane.

Italian government officials have accused the country’s top seismologist of manslaughter, after failing to predict a natural disaster that struck Italy in 2009, a massive devastating earthquake that killed 308 people.

A shocked spokesman for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) likened the accusations to a witch hunt.

“It has a medieval flavor to it — like witches are being put on trial,” the stunned spokesman told foxnews.com.

Enzo Boschi, the president of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), will face trial along with six other scientists and technicians, after failing to predict the future and the impending disaster.

Earthquakes are, of course, nearly impossible to predict, seismologists say. In fact, according to the website for the USGS, no major quake has ever been predicted successfully.

One comment at The Agitator notes that previous warnings about earthquakes in Italy have been squelched and seismologists threatened with arrest for trying to warn of possible danger.

H/T Radly Balko at The Agitator.