Luca Attanasio (facebook)

CONGO: SIX SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON OVER DEATH OF ITALIAN AMBASSADOR ATTANASIO

April 11, 2023:

A Democratic Republic of Congo military court sentenced six men to life in prison over the death of the Italian ambassador, his bodyguard and driver, a lawyer said on 7 April 2023.
Envoy Luca Attanasio, Italian bodyguard Vittorio Iacovacci and their Congolese driver Mustapha Milambo were killed on 22 February 2021, during a botched kidnapping as they drove to a World Food Programme project from the eastern city of Goma.
A lawyer representing Italy, Boniface Balamage, told Reuters that five of the people sentenced to life were already in prison while one was at large and tried in absentia.
"On the day when justice took its course, we celebrate the shining example and commitment of Luca, Vittorio and Moussa," the Italian embassy in Kinshasa tweeted.
Public prosecutors had originally sought the death penalty for the six accused.
According to Congo's presidency, six armed men intercepted the two-car convoy on the road, killed Milambo and led six passengers away. Army and park rangers tracked the group and a firefight ensued during which the kidnappers shot the two Italians.
At the time, Congo's interior ministry blamed a Hutu militia called the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). But the armed group denied any involvement and condemned what it called a "cowardly assassination".
Lawyers for the accused announced that they would appeal the verdict.