The murderers of the Italian peace activists, Vittorio Arrigoni, were sentenced to life terms in prison after being found guilty of kidnapping and killing Arrigoni. A Gaza military court sentenced two of the indicted to life terms, meanwhile a third were sentenced to ten years for taking part in the kidnapping, and a fourth for one year for hiding the suspects.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza attended the court representing the family of Vittorio since the beginning of the trial on August 11, 2011.
The centre said they have demanded the court to refrain from sentencing the suspects to death penalty if they were indicted, as the Center opposes death penalty in principle. This also was based on a request from Vittorio’s family.
Vittorio was kidnapped by a previously unknown group on April 14, 2011 and was found dead one day after. Few days later, three of those involved in his killing were shot dead in an exchange of fire with the Hamas police in Gaza.
Arrigoni was a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led nonviolent movement, established in Palestine with the beginning of the second Intifada to promote popular nonviolent resistance to the Israeli military occupation.
