President Sergio Mattarella said on the 39th anniversary of the Mafia assassination of Italian Communist Party (PCI) Sicilian regional leader Pio la Torre and his bodyguard Rosario Lo Salvo that public consciences should repudiate all violence.
In a message to the head of the Pio La Torre Study Centre, Vito Lo Monaco, Mattarella said "educating students to respect civic principles means laying the foundations to build a future community free form all forms of criminal conditioning.
"For this reason I show my appreciation for the educational project promoted every year by the Centre led by you, as a tangible contribution to the consolidation of a public conscience that repudiates all expressions of violence".
La Torre, 54, was assassinated in Palermo on April 30, 1982, after promoting a law on mafia conspiracy and seizing mafia assets, which was passed after the assassination on September 3 that year of Palermo Prefect and Carabinieri General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa.
Mattarella added that the eradication of the mafia was an "ineluctable" process.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
