The coffin containing the body of the Carabinieri's officer Mario Cerciello Rega is carried during his funeral in his hometown of Somma Vesuviana, near Naples. Photo / AP
The coffin containing the body of the Carabinieri's officer Mario Cerciello Rega is carried during his funeral in his hometown of Somma Vesuviana, near Naples. Photo / AP
Less than two months ago, Deputy Brig. Mario Cerciello Rega was married in a small church in the town of Somma Vesuviana, near Naples, Italy.
On Monday, the nation watched as a funeral for Cerciello Rega was held in the same church, three days after he was stabbed to deathin the aftermath of a bungled drug deal in Rome, where he worked as an officer of the carabinieri, or military police. The police say that two American teenagers who were arrested have confessed to the attack.
The funeral became a state affair, with Italy's two deputy prime ministers, Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio, and a slew of national and local officials standing alongside his widow as the ceremony was broadcast on national television. In a eulogy, Gen. Giovanni Nistri, the commander of the carabinieri corps, praised the slain officer for demonstrating "the values that a carabiniere should aspire to."
Yet even as the country mourned, a widely circulated image of one of the suspects sitting handcuffed and blindfolded before his police interrogation raised questions about the validity of his confession. The photograph has been highlighted on social media and in Italian news coverage, prompting a debate over how the Americans have been treated.
A picture released by the Italian police of Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth blindfolded and handcuffed in a police station in Rome. Photo / AP
The carabinieri press office has said that the two young men — Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, 18 — confessed to the attack. According to court documents, Elder is accused of repeatedly stabbing Cerciello Rega, who was trying to retrieve a backpack that the two Americans are accused of stealing.
A spokesman for the military police said Monday that the police and the judiciary had opened separate investigations into the circumstances behind the photograph. Carabinieri officials had distanced themselves from the picture in a statement issued Saturday, and pledged to punish those responsible for taking and sharing it.
Cerciello Rega's death struck a nerve in Italy, where nationalist leaders with brash social media personas have helped create the perception — often not borne out by facts — of a country besieged by criminals and drug dealers from within and immigrants and antagonistic neighbours from without.
Those leaders have raised up and rallied around — and in the case of Salvini donned the uniforms of — the country's law enforcement, as a bulwark against such threats.
Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, right, and Finnegan Lee Elder, sit in their hotel room in Rome. Photo / AP
In this climate, last week's killing took on a broader national significance, and Cerciello Rega, 35, who had just returned to work from his honeymoon, was praised as a hero.
Before his funeral service, the national broadcaster observed a minute of silence on its channels in memory of the officer, "killed in Rome while doing his best to guarantee our safety," the homage on a simple blue screen read.
Yet there was also outcry over the apparent treatment of the suspects.
A front-page editorial in the daily newspaper La Repubblica on Monday said that "the macabre exhibition" of Natale Hjorth offended "the constitutional principles and moral values that hold up our democracy."
Salvini himself weighed in, posting a photo of the blindfolded teenager on his Facebook page with the caption "Victim? The only victim is a man, a son, a husband, a carabiniere, a servant of the state."
In the hours immediately after the killing, Salvini was among several Italian lawmakers to spread an ultimately unfounded accusation that Cerciello Rega's assailants were two North African men. A barrage of racist invective followed.
American teenager Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth leaving the police station. Photo / AP
On Monday, the Italian news media argued over whether the photograph of Natale Hjorth in custody could compromise the case's outcome.
Emiliano Sisinni, Natale Hjorth's lawyer, said in a telephone interview that his client had not confessed to murder, but had "admitted to other episodes" related to the case.
He said that the treatment of his client before his interrogation had been in "clear violation of his rights," significantly undermined the rule of law and could have affected his client's statements.
Francesco Codini, Elder's lawyer, declined to say whether his client had also been blindfolded. He saw his client on Monday morning, and said that Elder was feeling "a little bit better," but that he was under a 24-hour watch.
