Luca Attanasio, the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was killed on 22 February 2021 along with two other people when a World Food Programme (WFP) delegation travelling on a field visit was attacked by armed individuals.[6][7] The two-vehicle convoy with seven people was travelling in the Congolese province of North Kivu, from the province's capital of Goma to a WFP school feeding programme in Rutshuru, a town 70 kilometres north of Goma, on a route that would have taken the vehicles through Virunga National Park.[6] The attack occurred at 10:15 a.m. local time near the townships of Kibumba[8] and Kanyamahoro.[9] The WFP and North Kivu governor Carly Nzanzu said the convoy did not have a security escort at the time of the attack.[10][11] In 2023, six men were convicted of murder.
Attack
The convoy carrying Attanasio was travelling on a stretch of National Route 2 in the Virunga National Park when it was stopped by armed gunmen. The attackers killed one person at the scene, identified as Congolese United Nations driver Mustapha Milambo.[6][9][12] The other members of the delegation were led into the bush by the armed assailants where an exchange of gunfire ensued. In the exchange of gunfire, Attanasio and his bodyguard, 30-year-old carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci, were mortally wounded. Others travelling in the convoy were also injured.[10] Attanasio was shot in the abdomen and succumbed to his injuries before arriving at a hospital in Goma.[1][9][13]
According to prosecutor Alberto Pioletti, autopsies showed that Attanasio and Iacovacci were killed in a shootout rather than by execution-style murder.[14] The investigation also revealed that the attack was a failed kidnapping rather than an assassination.[15]
On 5 March 2021, Mwilanya Asani William, the attorney who was investigating the deaths of the three men, was murdered by unknown gunmen during an ambush.[20]
Convictions
On 19 January 2022, police in the DRC announced they had arrested six members of a highway robbers' gang suspected of killing Attanasio.[21]
On 7 April 2023, the six men were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.[22]
The lawyers representing the accused claimed that their confessions were extracted through the use of torture. None of the survivors testified before the tribunal. The group also plans to appeal the sentences.[23]
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