Learn Italian: Il testimone ha sostenuto alla giuria che non aveva visto l'arma. - The witness claimed to the jury that he had not seen the weapon.

This sentence is an example of indirect speech. The reporting verb, ha sostenuto, is in the past tense. Because of this, the witness's original statement (which would have been non ho visto) must take a step backward in time. The passato prossimo shifts to the trapassato prossimo (aveva visto) to show that the event happened before the claiming.

Why does the sentence use ha sostenuto to mean claimed?

The verb sostenere literally means to support or to sustain. However, when talking about opinions, arguments, or testimony, it translates to claiming or maintaining a position. It implies the witness is firmly standing by their statement.

Is testimone always a masculine word?

The word testimone (witness) is identical for both men and women. You can only tell the gender by looking at the article. Il testimone refers to a male witness (or a generic witness), while la testimone would refer to a female witness.

Why is it alla giuria rather than just a giuria?

In Italian, you almost always need a definite article before a specific noun like giuria. To say to the jury, you combine the preposition a (to) with the feminine singular article la (the) to create the combined preposition alla.