Both the prosecution and defence are appealing in the case of the Italian captain convicted earlier this year of the 2012 shipwreck of the Costa Concordia cruise liner off the Tuscan coast.

An Italian court in February convicted Francesco Schettino of the manslaughter deaths of 32 passengers and crew members, of causing the shipwreck by colliding with a reef near tiny Giglio island and of abandoning the capsized vessel with people still aboard. It sentenced him to 16 years in prison. Prosecutors sought 26 years.

While the prosecutors hope a Florence appeals court will stiffen the sentence, defense lawyer Saverio Senese said Monday he'll argue that the court didn't correctly evaluate evidence in Schettino's favor.

Schettino is free pending appeals. The appeal trial is likely to start in 2016.