ROME (Reuters) – Rome prosecutors demanded a trial on manslaughter charges for two employees of a U.N. agency over the death last year of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.
Luca Attanasio, his bodyguard Vittorio Iacovacci and their driver Mustapha Milambo were killed on Feb. 22, 2021, during a botched kidnapping on a road in eastern Congo as they were heading toward a World Food Programme (WFP) project.
The source said prosecutors were seeking a trial for Rocco Leone and Mansour Luguru Rwagaza, who at the time of the attack were respectively the deputy chief of WFP in DR Congo and a security officer. They were also part of the convoy that was targeted by kidnappers, but survived the ordeal.
According to prosecutors, the pair acted with negligence as they lied to the U.N. security office that authorised the trip, omitting to disclose that a diplomat and his bodyguard were part of their convoy.
This was because the disclosure should have been done at least 72 hours ahead of time and it was too late to do so, according to a statement prosecutors issued in February, when they wrapped up their investigation.
A judge now has to decide whether to accept the request for a trial or drop charges. Neither the Rome-based WFP nor lawyers for the two staffers responded to requests for comment from Reuters.
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi and Marco Carta, writing by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
