Premier Giuseppe Conte will attend
the funeral on Saturday of Willy Monteiro Duarte, a 21-year-old
who was beaten to death at Colleferro, near Rome, last weekend
in a case that has shocked Italy.
The premier called the victim's family earlier this week.
Three young men are in jail and another is under house arrest in
relation to the homicide.
At the moment the probe is registered as being into involvement
in manslaughter but it could be stepped up to murder after
witnesses said the assault was so brutal that the attackers even
jumped on the body of the victim as he lay on the ground,
sources have said.
Prosecutors in the town of Velletri may also soon add new
suspects to the list of people under investigation, the sources
said.
Monteiro Duarte was allegedly attacked by the suspects, brothers
Gabriele and Marco Bianchi, Mario Pincarelli, and Francesco
Belleggia, after trying to defend a friend of his from their
alleged brutality.
The Bianchi brothers are mixed-martial arts specialists who had
allegedly been involved in street violence before. In the
warrant upholding the arrests, a witness is quoted as saying: "I
saw a large car arrived. Five people got out and started hitting
anyone who came within range with kicks and punches, and then
they started concentrating on Willy". The eye witness went on:
"While he was on the ground they kept unleashing kicks and
punches, and he was unable to get back up". Another witness told
the judge: "I have a vivid memory of a couple of them, I don't
remember who precisely, who were actually jumping up and down on
Willy's helpless body on the ground".
The judge wrote that there was "no plausible reason" for the
attack and Willy was targeted only because he had happened to be
in the initial fight, defending his friend. The two brothers on
Tuesday said they were innocent. "We didn't touch him," the
Bianchis told the preliminary investigations judge in a hearing.
"We reject all the accusations. "We intervened to break it up.
We saw a brawl and we came. "We are saddened and we are
devastated because we are accused of a homicide we did not
commit". Monteiro Duarte, who had only recently become an
Italian citizen, was from Paliano near Frosinone, between Rome
and Naples. His four alleged assailants are from the nearby town
of Artena.
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