Prosecutor seeks dying penalty for homicide of DR Congo Italian envoy

Prosecutors within the trial of six folks accused of murdering Italy’s ambassador to DR Congo in 2021 requested the dying penalty Wednesday, throughout an indictment listening to within the capital Kinshasa.

The central African nation has noticed a de-facto moratorium on capital punishment since 2003, in line with the United Nations, however courts proceed handy down dying sentences.

Luca Attanasio, Italy’s former ambassador to the DRC, was amongst three folks killed on February 22, 2021, when a UN convoy was ambushed within the nation’s troubled east.

The opposite fatalities have been driver Mustapha Milambo and Italian police officer Vittorio Iacovacci.

A army tribunal analyzing the murders opened in Kinshasa in October.

On Thursday, army prosecutor Bamusamba Kabamba, advised the court docket that the victims had been kidnapped” and “dragged deep into the forest earlier than being killed”.

He requested the dying penalty for all six males accused within the case. 5 of the boys are being held in jail in Kinshasa, whereas the opposite is on the run.

Throughout earlier hearings, the prosecution solid the defendants as criminals who had initially meant to kidnap the ambassador and demand a $1 million ransom.

The defendants, who have been arrested in January 2022, denied any wrongdoing and mentioned their preliminary confessions have been extracted by way of torture.

The tribunal is because of maintain one other listening to on Saturday, the place the defence is anticipated to wrap up its case.

A remaining judgement is anticipated at an undefined later date.

A lot of japanese DRC is prey to armed teams, a lot of that are a legacy of regional wars that flared throughout the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s. Militia assaults in opposition to civilians within the unstable area are frequent.