The technical-legal problem was that Italy had no provision to have a retrial since Somogyi had not presented recourse within time limits to the appellate court after the first sentence. So his grievance to have a retrial was not accepted by the Italian courts after his arrest. The European Court's decision brought about new legislation to put the burden of proof on the State that the defendant had been informed, rather than on the defendant.
So, yes, the Italian rulings against Somogyi's plaint did not thoroughly consider the evidence he presented to prove he had not been informed properly.
The French solution seems the best to me: automatic retrial.
It wasn't just his being informed properly, also the circumstances of the arrest and extradition by Austria, and the 'proof' of his guilt. As far as I know, the only hard evidence the case was based on was a testimony by the Hungarian-Romanian girlfriend of the gang leader.
This woman first settled in Hungary with the help of Somogyi's wife, then moved on to Italy, where she met the Savi brothers (one of whom was robber with mask and police officer without), and later on, she once invited Somogyi (a used car salesman) & family to Italy to sell a car of the gang. But when she testified (playing a pentito), she brought up Somogyi's name, which was linked up (either by her or by a clumsy interrogator, see below) with gun imports, and the car as payment.
The 'testimony' was inconsistent, both internally and with what Somogyi did at home at the time, but he never got the chance to present alibis or to confront with that woman, or even to give a testimony himself (he was brought to a hearing in Bologna during which he wasn't allowed to say anything), nor were the car sale documents brought by his wife considered, nor the physical fact that the 20 kg of guns would have had no place in that small Fiat beside the family, not to mention hiding it.
Regarding the inconsistencies in the gang leader's lover's testimony, this is the most bizarre part. It may be that the woman didn't intend to get Somogyi arrested, but Somogyi was unlucky. She gave the name ('Somogyi Tamásné') and personal data of the wife! But the car Tamás Somogyi drove to Austria in was on the name of the wife, and he was arrested because the border guards first checked the car's papers...
I note that Somogyi's ordeal had the further grotesque moment that, to be closer to his wife, he asked for relocation to a Hungarian prison -- and the Hungarian state, whose diplomats and international lawiers were fighting for him, not only duly obliged but erroneously put him in a higher-security prison for serious criminals (murderers etc.)!... He was released only a year ago.
I also note that there is a domestic element of the story that would fit right in with your stories of murky conspiracies in Italy -- the real arms dealers were probably also Hungarians, but ones well-connected like the policeman Savi brother... *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
