On Monday in the Santa Croce di Santa Maria del Corso church in Somma Vesuviana the funeral took place for Carabiniere Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega who was killed in Rome on Friday.
The 35-year-old officer had got married less than two months ago at the same church where his funeral was held in and had only recently returned to duty after his honeymoon when he was killed.
Two young American men are in jail in relation to the homicide, which took place after a drug deal went wrong.
The coffin containing the body of Carabinieri officer Mario Cerciello Rega is carried during a procession for his funeral, in his hometown of Somma Vesuviana (Naples), southern Italy. Photo: EPA-EFE/CIRO FUSCO
During the funeral there was a Carabinieri guard of honour and members of the Knights of Malta, with whom Rega volunteered for.
Outside were wreathes sent by the Italian president and the speakers of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, as well as the defense minister, the General Command of the Arma dei Carabinieri and the central Rome unit that he belonged to. There will be a Carabinieri guard of honour and members of the Knights of Malta, whom Rega volunteered for.
Pictures of Mario Cerciello Rega and his wife lay over the coffin containing the body of Carabinieri officer Mario Cerciello Rega during his funerals in his hometown of Somma Vesuviana (Naples), southern Italy.
Following the uproar sparked by the killing of a police officer in the Italian capital on Friday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called for a calmer approach. Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, and Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, both American citizens were arrested Friday on suspicion of killing Rega.
An undated handout photo by the Italian Carabinieri showing Carabinieri police officer Mario Cerciello Rega. EPA-EFE/CARABINIERI / HANDOUT
Rega, 35, was stabbed to death in the Prati neighbourhood of Rome.
The American students had been staying in an upscale hotel and had allegedly tried to buy cocaine from a man who led them to a dealer. The dealer then reportedly sold them crushed aspirin instead of the drug.
The picture of Carabinieri’s officer Mario Cerciello Rega is shown during his funeral in his hometown of Somma Vesuviana (Naples), southern Italy. Photo EPA-EFE/CIRO FUSCO
The students reportedly took the man’s bag with his phone in it in retaliation, after which the man contacted the police and arranged a meeting between with the two during which he was to have given them money to get his belongings back. Rega and one colleague, both in plainclothes, went to near the hotel where the two young men were staying.
The students and the two police officers ended up in a physical altercation during which Rega was repeatedly stabbed with a knife later found in the students’ hotel room. One of the students has allegedly confessed.
A photo later emerged on social media showing one of the suspects blindfolded in a carabiniere station, leading to heavy criticism.
”Italy is a state of law,” Conte wrote on Facebook. ”We have principles and consolidated values. We must avoid being swept along by the wave of emotional reactions, while also taking into account that our legislation provides for life sentences for murder without any reduction in the term to be served. This is in part the merit of stricter laws introduced by this government.” The prime minister added that ”now we must instead make sure that those with responsibility act in such a way that these regulations be applied in a rigorous manner.”
