6 receive life sentences for murder of Italian ambassador in Congo

By Aurore Bonny

DOUALA, Cameroon (AA) - A Congolese court sentenced six men to life in prison for the murder of an Italian diplomat and two others, Congolese and Italian media reported Friday.

The military tribunal of the Kinshasa-Gombe garrison delivered the verdict in open court for the triple murder of Luca Attanasio, the Italian ambassador to Congo; bodyguard Vittorio Iacovacci and Mustapha Milambo, a Congolese driver for the World Food Program (WFP).

The three were shot and killed Feb. 22, 2021, in an ambush on the outskirts of Virunga National Park in North Kivu Province – a region in eastern Congo plagued by rebel attacks. Attanasio was seriously wounded and died shortly afterward at the UN hospital in Goma, according to his foundation, Mama Sofia.

The perpetrators, arrested in January 2022, were charged with "murder, criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of weapons and munitions of war."

Five of the six defendants attended the trial. Marc Prince Nshimimana was never arrested and was convicted in absentia. He was, according to the Congolese prosecution, the leader of the gang.

The military tribunal did not retain the death penalty that was requested by the prosecution.

Italy requested that the defendants be sentenced to prison as an alternative to the death penalty.

"Adding death to death serves no purpose. We are against it. Luca would have been against it," said his father, Salvatore Attanasio, quoted by Italian media outlet, La Republica.

Preliminary hearings are scheduled to begin in Rome in May in a case against Rocco Leone and Mansour Luguru Rwagaza, two WFP executives who organized the mission that was later attacked, according to Italian media.

"The two men are accused of manslaughter because they allegedly committed serious negligence and irregularities that contributed to the lack of security and protection of the expedition during which Attanasio was killed," Ilpost.it reported.

"On this day when justice has taken its course we celebrate the shining example and commitment of Luca, Vittorio and Moussa," the Italian Embassy in the Congo wrote on Twitter.