Italian police on Monday said they
had identified two Roma suspects in the May 10 deaths in a fire
in their camper van of three Roma sisters.
The pair have been placed under investigation for multiple
homicide, attempted murder and carrying incendiary objects,
police said. Police said they thought the fire in the camper
van, in a carpark in Rome's Centocelle district, was part of a
vendetta.
Elizabeth, Angelica and Francesca Halilovic were caught by
the flames in their sleep and burned alive as they were unable
to get out of the torched vehicle, an autopsy said.
Police had combed Roma camps for suspects in the fire that
killed the girls as part of a suspected feud between Roma
families.
The girls, aged 4, 8 and 20, were burned alive while their
eight brothers and parents escaped the blaze.
The homicide probe was opened after shards of glass and
traces of flammable liquid were found outside the vehicle and
video footage caught a man with a Molotov cocktail.
Survivors of the blaze in the camper, which was home to a
family from Bosnia made up of 11 children plus the parents, told
investigators that they had recently received threats.
Another camper was reportedly torched in the area recently.
The camper was in a shopping centre car park, with the
Halilovic family having recently moved from a Roma camp,
reportedly amid tensions.
The incident shocked Italy and moved Pope Francis to send a
message to the family.
The Sant'Egidio lay Catholic charity, which does a lot of
work with Roma, said the incident showed "the Roma have been the
victims of unprecedented violence".
Former premier and centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader
Matteo Renzi called for "harsher punishment than normally
envisaged for whoever caused the fire" while the Codacons
consumer group said "the camper should not have been there, it
is a sign of urban decay".
Amnesty International Italia said the "tragic
deaths...repropose the issue of the right to proper housing" on
the part of Roma families.
President Sergio Mattarella said the incident was "a
horrendous crime, whoever committed it".
He said "when you kill children you are below the level of a
human being".
Mattarella said "the culprits must be found and severely
punished".
Lower House Speaker Laura Boldrini tweeted "three sisters
burned alive in the camper in which they lived. An aberrant act,
full of hate and violence."
Pope Francis sent a "message of comfort" to the family.
It was taken to the Halilovic family by Papal Almoner Msgr
Konrad Krajewski who went there to "bring a greeting and
concrete aid to the parents and eight children", the Vatican
press office said.
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