DR Congo’s Prosecutors Seek Capital Punishment Against Suspected Killers Of Italian Ambassador

By Jean Pierre Afadhali [caption id="attachment_105654" align="alignnone" width="1180"] Italian Ambassador to Congo Luca Attanasio was killed in an ambush on a UN Convoy[/caption] On Wednesday 8 March, the DRC’s public prosecutor requested the death penalty against the alleged murderers of the former Italian Ambassador to the DRC, Luca Atanasio, his Italian bodyguard, Vittorio Lacovaci, and his Congolese WFP driver, Mustapha Milambo, killed in 2021, reported Okapi, a UN-affiliated media outlet last week. The prosecutor requested the capital punishment last week at the hearing held at the military tribunal of the garrison of Kinshasa-Gombe, at the military prison of Ndolo, Barumbu commune. According to Okapi.net, of the six defendants on trial for this murder, five are appearing in the military court and one is on the run and being tried in absentia for acts committed in February 2021 in North Kivu. This 17th public hearing in the high-profile case took place without all the defence lawyers, except for the president of the collective, demanding payment of their emoluments. "The victims were kidnapped, dragged deep into the forest before being executed by bullets,” the law officer, Captain Magistrate Bamusamba Kabamba, was quoted by Okapi.net as saying during his closing statement. Italian diplomat Luca Atanasio, hid body guard and World Food Programme driver were assassinated in volatile Eastern DR Congo near Goma city on their way to a function in February 2021. Suspects are being prosecuted for murder, criminal association, illegal possession of weapons and ammunition of war, and have been appearing in court since 12 October 2022. The civil parties, the Italian Republic and Salvator Atanasio, father of the ex-ambassador, one of his counsels Deo gracias Kashongwe hope the trail will be fair. The civil party also expects civil compensation according to media reports. On the other hand, the defence, lawyer Joseph Amzati claims that the defendants are innocent. However, the companions of the former ambassador have not been represented at the trial but they have been cited in all the hearings, the next of which is scheduled for Saturday for the defense arguments. In March 2021, European parliament condemned the assassination of Italian Ambassador and called for a thorough inquiry into the murder.