CAIRO, FEBRUARY 22 – The final hearing in the ongoing trial in Kinshasa for the killing of ambassador Luca Attanasio, the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci and their driver Mustapha Milambo is set for next Wednesday, March 1. This was reported by sources informed by the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the second anniversary of the death of the Italian diplomat. The prosecution’s requests and the arguments from the civil and defense parties are expected in a week’s time, he specified, recalling that the date had been set at the previous hearing, which took place on February 15th. As is well known, six Congolese (the “gang leader” is a fugitive) accused of the ambush in which Attanasio was killed have been on trial before a military tribunal since October. The charges against them are, for various reasons, of murder, criminal association and illegal possession of war weapons and ammunition, the charge that justifies the appeal to the military court. The defendants have denied their involvement by retracting initial admissions extorted, according to them, with violence. Attanasio, 43, was fatally injured by gunfire in an ambush by criminals on a United Nations World Food Program (WFP) convoy traveling on the edge of the Virunga National Park, in the province of North Kivu, a high-risk area for three decades. (HANDLE).
(HANDLE)
