A disturbing truth that, one year later, emerges from the papers of the investigation of the Prosecutor's Office of Roma, on the death in Congo of the Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio and of the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci.

The group of bandits who attacked the convoy on which the two Italians were traveling, on February 22, 2021, had, according to the reconstructions, asked for the immediate payment of 50 thousand dollars: and in the face of the unpaid money, the ambush turned into a tragic attempted kidnapping for extortion purposes.

Corriere della Sera and Repubblica write today about the details of what happened 12 months ago in the Virunga Park area.

In recent days, the prosecutors in piazzale Clodio have closed the investigation against Rocco Leone, deputy director of Pam, the UN food program and his collaborator Mansour Rwagaza. The accusation against them is of manslaughter for not having respected the security protocols in the preparation of Attanasio's mission.

During the interrogation, Leone reconstructed the dramatic phases of the ambush. "I gave everything I had, 300-400 dollars and my cell phone. The ambassador also began to take off the things he was wearing, certainly his wallet and perhaps his watch - he explained to the investigators -. I told Iacovacci to stay calm and not to take the gun, maybe the ambassador told him too. "

For his part, Rwagaza said that the bandits "ordered us to hand over the money. They wanted $ 50,000, otherwise they would have taken us to the forest and then they would have asked for a ransom ... I told Rocco Leone that we had to cooperate".

(Unioneonline / vl)