Three men are accused of the murder of Luca Attanasio, the ambassador mortally wounded in an ambush in Congo on 22 February and where the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci and the driver Mustafa Milambo also lost their lives. Two were stopped yesterday by the local police while the third, believed to be the material perpetrator, is still untraceable.
The clarification comes from the AP agency in the face of the photos spread in which you can see a group of men sitting on the ground and kept under control by the agents. The police commander of North Kivu province, Aba Van Ang, had introduced them as members of “three criminal groups who bloodied Goma”. The other four arrested are accused of attacking other aid workers in the region.
Also according to the commander, the “mind” and material author of the murder of Attanasio, a man known by the name of Aspirant, but still on the run. The group wanted to kidnap the Italian diplomat to demand a ransom of one million dollars in exchange for his release, the Congolese policeman added.
Credit Laura Aprati / Matteo Giusti
Arrests in Congo for the murder of Ambassador Attanasio
According to the Agi agency, which quotes a France24 journalist who attended the local press conference, initially it was not their intention to kill Attanasio but “they had planned to kidnap him to ask for a million dollar ransom. Things went badly, the plan failed and the kidnappers immediately killed the ambassador. “Di Maio: we will do everything to catch the killer
“Our Embassy in the Democratic Republic of Congo is in constant contact with the authorities, there are still no official communications on the latest actions of the investigating authorities – so the Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio, to Tg1 – but I can guarantee you, I have guaranteed it to the family, that we will continue to carry out all the activities that are needed so that all those involved in the death of Luca Attanasio, of the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci and of the driver Musthafa Milambo, are insured to justice “. The words of Luca Attanasio’s father
“The government of Congo has the objective of quickly closing this case, which for the country is rather thorny and therefore tries to settle the matter quickly and simplistically” so Luca’s father, Salvatore Attanasio, commented the news of the arrests, learned from television. “Certainly, even if these people were really Luca’s killers, this is not enough to clarify, as we need to clarify the responsibilities of WFP (the United Nations World Food Program) which in our opinion are very serious for not having foreseen the necessary protection for the mission ”he added.
“The truth must come out and I am convinced that in the end it will emerge – explains Salvatore Attanasio – but it will be the one brought by the Italian judiciary, which is the only one we believe in and which is the only one that can bring out at least a shred of truth. “. Finally, after speaking with his son’s widow, he wished to express his confidence in the work of the Farnesina “which he has not yet been able to verify on the actual seriousness of the arrests, but which is doing its utmost. Like us, Minister Di Maio and outraged by the behavior of the WFP. Perhaps the bar should be raised further at European level and in this we had received an important interest from the former president Sassoli before Christmas. Without him we have lost important support, but theThe Rome
prosecutor’s office The Rome prosecutor’s office is moving quickly to try to “acquire elements that allow the verification and careful evaluation of the investigative news coming from the Congo”. The prosecutors of piazzale Clodio are about to officially ask for the minutes of the declarations made by the arrested in order to examine them and find any objective responsibilities on what happened last year.
Furthermore, within the perimeter outlined by the two letters rogatory sent to Congo, work is being done to speed up the mission of the Carabinieri del Ros in order to try to directly interrogate those arrested and support local investigators in the next steps of the investigations.
The magistrates had already started two international letters rogatory in Congo for some time and the prosecutors are working to speed up the mission of the carabinieri del Ros on the spot. The aim is to try to interrogate those arrested directly and to support local investigators in all the checks and checks to be carried out.
Credit Laura Aprati / Matteo Giusti
Arrest in Congo for Attanasio murder The dynamics of the attack
The attack took place north of Goma in the Virunga park, a Unesco world heritage site since 1979, in the province of North-Kivu: a historically unstable region in the border with Rwanda, already the scene of the so-called Great African War between 1998 and 2003.
Attanasio and Iacovacci died during a shooting between the six attackers and the park rangers, who intervened after hearing the shots fired to block the convoy. When the patrol intimates the assailants to lower their weapons, the latter opened fire on the soldier of the Carabinieri, killing him, and on the Italian ambassador, seriously injuring him.
Whoever organized the international convoy should have known that it was a very high risk area where out-of-control militiamen and jihadists roam. There have been questions about the lack of armed protection, about the dynamics of the shooting, about the escape of the attackers, but the reticence of the local authorities weighs on the ascertainment of the truth.
Italian prosecutors challenged the crimes of omitted precautions in relation to the crime, based on articles 40 and 589 of the criminal code, and investigated Mansour Rwagaza, a Congolese WFP official responsible for the safety of the convoy with which Attanasio and Iacovacci were traveling.
