Rome prosecutors have asked a
preliminary investigations judge (GIP) to shelve the latest
investigation into the the 1980 Ustica plane crash, Rome daily
La Repubblica reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper said prosecutors believe a military aerial
dogfight caused the crash, ruling out the possibility that a
bomb exploded onboard.
The mysterious air disaster known in Italy as the 'Ustica
Massacre' (Strage di Ustica) on June 27 1980 left 81 people dead
and has been the object of numerous investigations, legal
actions and accusations, including claims of conspiracy.
According to the report, Rome's State attorneys were unable to
identify the nationality of the fighter jets that allegedly
caused the crash of the Bologna-Palermo flight operated by the
now-defunct Itavia airline.
The air carrier from the Marche region was at the time led by
Ancona entrepreneur Aldo Davanzali.
The plane crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of
Ponza and Ustica, killing all 81 people, including 13 children,
on board.
Judicial sources said the probe was allegedly hampered by the
lack of transparency and cooperation from the foreign countries
involved which provided incomplete information and at times
misleading evidence to Italian authorities, per the report.
Hypotheses on the causes of what has been one of Italy's
enduring mysteries have included a terrorist bombing and a
missile strike during a military aerial dogfight, with a Libyan
plane possibly being the intended target.
In 2013 the Court of Cassation found that a missile fired from
an unknown source was the definite cause of the disaster, and
said that "cover-ups" in investigations into Itavia Flight 870
must now be considered "definitively ascertained".
Ten years later, ex-premier Giuliano Amato said in 2023 that a
French missile was behind the mysterious crash.
Amato said at the time that the Dc9 Bologna-Palermo flight
operated by Itavia airline was hit in an attempt to assassinate
late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Meanwhile Daria Bonfietti, the president of the association of
relatives of victims of the disaster, expressed "great pain and
disappointment" after the request to shelve the latest
investigation that was opened in 2008 after late Italian
president Francesco Cossiga said French jets were responsible
for the crash.
Bonifetti stressed the pain "for our dead who have not had full
justice yet and disappointment for the many years of
investigations and the efforts made by magistrates and lawyers
that could not uncover the full truth".
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