In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the six people accused of the murder in February 2021 of the former Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio were sentenced to life imprisonment on April 7, 2023. One of them was tried by default, because still on the run.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the verdict has just fallen in the trial of those accused of having assassinated the former Italian ambassador, in February 2021, near Goma.
On April 7, 2023, the five men present in the box as well as the sixth, still at large, were sentenced to life imprisonment and the payment of two million US dollars as compensation for damages.
The World Food Program (WFP) convoy in which was the Italian ambassador to the DRC, Luca Attanasio, was ambushed and the ambassador, his bodyguard and a driver were then shot dead.
The military prosecutor had requested the death penalty
The verdict was more lenient than the requisitions. Before the Kinshasa-Gombe garrison military court, sitting within the Ndolo military prison, the military prosecutor had requested the death penalty against the accused.
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The six men were being prosecuted for murder, criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of arms and munitions of war “.
The trial opened on October 12, 2022 and throughout the hearings, until the last day, the defendants pleaded their innocence, while the public prosecutor presented the six men as members of a “ criminal gang who, if they had no intention of killing the ambassador, wanted to kidnap him for ransom. The prosecutor had therefore requested the death penalty.
A verdict in line with the demands of the civil parties
This verdict, life imprisonment, finally corresponds to the demands of the civil parties. Indeed, the Republic of Italy, opposed to the death penalty, had asked ” that the defendants be sentenced to a custodial sentence ” while the father of the ambassador had himself withdrawn on the grounds “ that he could not continue to be a civil party in a trial where there is a risk of a death sentence “. These civil parties were therefore heard.
The defense immediately announced that it would appeal. Another trial should therefore still take place before a military court.