Moroccan, Anmv: “In 5 months filed a complaint about the violence of French colonial troops, stunned”

After five months of investigations, the investigation presented by the National Association of Victims of Moroccan Women regarding the murders and violence committed in 1943-1944 by colonial troops in the French Army was filed by the investigating judge at the Military Court of Rome. The news is announced by the national president of the ANVM, Emiliano Ciotti, who in recent days has come into possession of the archiving decree through the association’s lawyer. The criminal proceedings were against “unknown soldiers” for the crime of “concurrence in violence with murder against private enemies and pluri-aggravated and continued looting”. The facts, we read in the document of the Military Prosecutor, were committed “to the detriment of the Italian civilian population between 1943 and 1944 in the countryside of the province of Latina and Frosinone” and consisted “in the killing of numerous non-belligerent civilians (including women, young people and the elderly of various sexes and ages) as well as numerous sexual violence against the local civilian population, especially but not exclusively of the female sex; in the looting of some homes of private non-belligerent Italian citizens, outside and without the need for military operations ”. “We were banned – declares Emiliano Ciotti – because in the past, for similar crimes committed by soldiers of another belligerent nation, all possible diplomatic and judicial ways were sought. The investigations also involved the police of that state, ex-soldiers over ninety years old were investigated and tried and the media coverage was considerable. In the case of our complaint – continues Ciotti – it was archived after just five months of investigations carried out by the War Crimes section of the Military Judicial Police. An epilogue that we did not expect. The only hope is that the prosecutor in his filing request writes that ‘the investigations may eventually be reopened later, should new and useful evidence emerge’ “.” We are astonished “but” we do not stop and with ours Legal Commission we are considering going before the European Court of Human Rights “Ciotti told Adnkronos. “We are astonished – he explains – After such an important denunciation of a war crime, the investigations were closed in 4-5 months without the prosecutor having moved to request information from France and continue the investigations beyond the Italian territory”. “All this leaves us perplexed: for other crimes of other nations, criminals have been persecuted for up to 100 years, these are considered ‘series B crimes’ and there is no political-military will to go to the bottom – he concludes – But we do not stop and with our Legal Commission we are considering going before the European Court of Human Rights “.