Congo Attack: Judge Dismisses Charges Against UN Staffers

An Italian judge has ruled that two UN staffers cannot be tried in Italy for the killing of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The ambassador was murdered in 2021 along with his bodyguard and driver during an attempted kidnapping by six men according to Reuters. They were on their way to attend a World Food Programme project in the country.

Rocco Leone and Mansour Luguru Rwagaza, who at the time of the attack were respectively the deputy chief of the WFP in Congo and security officer, have been accused of negligence.

However, Judge Marisa Mosetti ruled that as employees of the United Nations, the two men enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

DW reported that the convoy was made up of two WFP vehicles. It was ambushed about 20-km from the eastern city of Goma, near Virunga National Park. Six men blocked the car and opened fire killing the occupants.

A military court in the DRC sentenced the six men to life imprisonment in 2021. But Italy has demanded that UN officials in Congo also be held responsible for sanctioning the trip.

Eastern Congo has long been beset by violence and attacks on aid convoys are common.