President Sergio Mattarella said on
the 26th anniversary of the Mafia murder of anti-mafia
prosecutor Paolo Borsellino Thursday that "honouring the memory
of magistrate Borsellino and the persons escorting him also
means not stopping to seek the truth on that massacre".
"26 years on," said Mattarella, "the memories and emotion for
the cowardly attack in Via d'Amelio (In Palermo) are still
alive".
"Magistrate Paolo Borsellino lost his life along with agents
Agostino Catalano, Walter Eddie Cosina, Vincenzo Li Muli,
Emanuela Loi and Claudio Traina.
"Borsellino was an exemplary magistrate: principled,
reserved, brave and determined.
"His investigations constituted milestones in the fight
against the mafia in Sicily.
"Together with his friend and colleague Giovanni Falcone,
Borsellino became, fully, the symbol of an Italy that fights and
does not surrender to organised crime".
Premier Giuseppe Conte also said it was a "duty" to seek the
truth about the murders of Borsellino and his five police
escorts.
"Paolo Borsellino, Agostino Catalano, Emanuela Loi, Vincenzo
Li Muli, Walter Cosina and Claudio Traina. Let's cultivate their
memory in the daily fight against the mafias," the premier said.
"The search for the truth on Via D'Amelio is a duty for Italy
which believes in their example and in honesty #July19," Conte
said.
Italy must continue to fight Mafia "scumbags" to honour the
Borsellino's memory, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said.
"The best way to honour the memory of Paolo Borsellino and
all the victims of the mafia is to fight with ever more force
these scumbags," Salvini said.
Falcone was killed by a massive bomb under the
Palermo-Palermo Airport highway, along with his three bodyguards
and his wife, Italian magistrate Francesca Morvillo, on May 23,
1992.
On July 19 that year, two months later, another huge Cosa
Nostra bomb killed Borsellino outside his mother's home in
Palermo, along with his police escorts.
Cosa Nostra bosses including the late Salvatore Totò Riina
and Bernardo Provenzano as well as Giovanni Brusca have been
condemned for the killings, part of a Mafia reign of terror when
members of Italian institutions instituted tough prison
conditions, Italian prosecutors have said.
One of the mysteries linked to the Borsellino slaying is the
disappearance of a bag containing his personal diary,
investigative sources say.
Prosecutors are still trying to establish who stole it and
what exactly it contained.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA