Died in Nassiriya, the state denies liquidation to family members because he was a volunteer.
It is the story of Matteo Vanzan, the first major corporal of the Italian Army. He died on May 17, 2004, aged just 22, during a fight in Nassiriya in Iraq.
17 years later, the state denied the payment of the liquidation because Vanzan was a "volunteer in short term".
The Victims of Duty website raised the case: “Matteo had been drafted into the fire brigade. Later he enlisted in the Army, in the Serenissima Lagoon Regiment, where he had made the decision to be voluntarily sent to Nassiriya. During a clash with rebel militiamen, a mortar grenade severely severed a femoral artery and after a desperate surgery, the young corporal expired due to the serious injuries sustained ", we read.
The then Head of State Carlo Azeglio Ciampi conferred the Cross of Honor reserved for the victims of terrorism on the memory of Vanzan. A medal, however, is not enough, and the parents Lucia and Enzo asked the INPS to provide the termination of service treatment, an equivalent of the severance pay for public employees.
The INPS denied it because "the soldier, who was a volunteer on a short-term basis at the time of his death, cannot be considered the holder of an employment relationship and therefore is not entitled to the payment of the TFS".
And now the Vanzan family is waging a judicial battle to ask for the condemnation of INPS to pay the emolument.
(Unioneonline / L)
