Murdered in a gruesome manner simply for demanding what should be every worker's right: to be paid for what they do. The words of the sole survivor of the migrant massacre at a gas station along State Road 106 in Amendolara (Cosenza) provide the possible motive for a quadruple homicide carried out in a brutal, shocking manner, with the victims burned alive . This version will, of course, need to be examined by investigators from the Cosenza Flying Squad and magistrates from the Castrovillari Public Prosecutor's Office, who have meanwhile put a stop to the investigation. After a lengthy interrogation that continued at the Cosenza Police Headquarters for most of the night, the two alleged perpetrators were arrested and charged with multiple aggravated homicide. They are two Pakistani nationals, caught by the video surveillance system at the gas station where the massacre took place, which captured not only their faces but also the sequence of events of the four crimes . The footage shows the two men moving frantically around the minivan with the rear door open. While one man stands in the back, presumably pouring gasoline into the passenger compartment, the other man pushes against the doors with his arms to prevent anyone inside from escaping. The two then take turns, and suddenly, a flame erupts, as they flee on foot. A seventh person, an Afghan citizen with legal residence in Italy, was also on board the vehicle, which also carried the alleged killers. He miraculously survived. He managed to smash a window and escape by headbutting him. He has two large bandages covering his burns on his arms. And it was he, caught by the cameras of TgR Calabria, who provided what may be the motive for this seemingly senseless massacre.
The man, speaking halting Italian and visibly shaken, said that three of the victims were his compatriots, and the fourth was Pakistani and lived with them. He then claimed that the two suspects had demanded money for transportation, which the victims refused to pay. This triggered a violent reaction from the two men, likely gangmasters, who wanted to punish such an "affront" by burning alive those who resisted their demands. But the young man also said something else: that his friends had repeatedly asked the gangmasters to be paid for their work in the strawberry fields between Calabria and Basilicata, but had never received any payment.
"They didn't give us money. They gave us food, they gave us a house. But no money." Then he recounted the moments before his friends' deaths. "They threw gasoline inside and then a lighter." The survivor didn't hesitate to say that a "large Pakistani mafia" is involved in the field work, reporting that the two arrested men threatened him and his friends with knives and guns. Now his words will be examined by investigators who are seeking corroboration to establish a motive, including through the testimony of other farmworkers and the statements of the suspects themselves, should they decide to reveal the reason for what happened.
(Unioneonline)
