ITALY: PRIME MINISTER PRODI ATTENDS RALLY TO COMMEMORATE ITALY'S WORST WARTIME ATROCITY, THE MASSACRE AT THE ARDEATINE CAVES

Record ID: 215307

  • Title: ITALY: PRIME MINISTER PRODI ATTENDS RALLY TO COMMEMORATE ITALY'S WORST WARTIME ATROCITY, THE MASSACRE AT THE ARDEATINE CAVES
  • Date: 5th August 1996
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (AUGUST 5, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV CAMPIDOGLIO WITH CROWDS, INCLUDING SURVIVORS OF CONCENTRATION CAMPS 0.06 2. SLV FLOWERS CARRIED THROUGH CROWD, PEOPLE LAYING BOUQUETS OF FLOWERS ON TRUCK (3 SHOTS) 0.29 3. SLV MAN COLLECTING FLOWERS FROM CROWD 0.35 4. SLV PRIME MINISTER ROMANO PRODI LAYING DOWN FLOWERS
  • Embargoed: 20th August 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ROME, ITALY
  • City:
  • Country: Italy
  • Reuters ID: LVA91NR9CUWCS1M9GOIEP5U36OIT
  • Story Text: - INTRO: Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has attended a rally in Rome to commemorate the 335 civilians killed in Italy's worst wartime atrocity.

    ------------------------------------------------------------- Hundreds of people gathered in Rome's Municipal Square on Monday (August 5) to remember the victims and to protest at the verdict of the military court last week which released former German SS captain Erich Priebke who was accused of involvement in the World War Two massacre.

    Priebke, 83, was convicted on Thursday of taking part in the March 24, 1944 massacre in the Ardeatine Caves near Rome, but was discharged by the court which ruled he was merely following orders and did not act with cruelty or premeditation.

    People laid wreaths and flowers and Rome's Mayor Francesco Rutelli praised the determination of the people who had highlighted the cause.

    Priebke has been re-arrested on an international warrant from Germany, which wants to extradite him to face a murder trial there.

    Mayor Rutelli told the crowd they had the right to judge Priebke again because of his crimes against humanity.

    The Mayor himself had called for the demonstration asking every citizen to bring a flower to be dropped on the tombs of the cave victims after the ceremony.

    Before the ceremony Mayor Rutelli gave a medal to the President of the Association of the Families of the Victims, Giovanni Gigliozzi, who handed over a glass filled with earth taken from the caves.


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