Mario Paciolla, the Attorney General of Rome requests the filing: “It was a suicide”

Mario Paciolla – Picture by Ansa Foto

The Rome prosecutor considers it unnecessary to re-investigate the case of Mario Paciolla and has requested the closure of the investigation into the death of the activist who died in Colombia in July 2020.

The Neapolitan aid worker was found hanged at his home in San Vicente del Caguán, where he worked as a UN collaborator in an internal pacification project between the local government and former Farc rebels.

For the Capitol Prosecutor, the most accredited hypothesis is that of suicide. The investigation opened against unknown persons with the hypothesis of a murder did not lead to concrete elements.

Mario Paciolla: the fuzzy points on his death

Even for the Colombian authorities and the United Nations, Paciolla would have committed suicide, but there are many points in the story that still do not match.

For example, the report of the second autopsy carried out in Italy, which revealed injuries that could have been inflicted while the activist was dying or already dead.

Family and friends were never convinced of the suicide hypothesis. His ex-girlfriend had said that in the days leading up to his death, Paciolla was terrified and in a rush to return to Italy. He felt spied on and betrayed by some UN colleagues with whom he was working on a file on the bombardment of the Colombian army.

Mario’s parents also denounced the procedure, considered abnormal, with which their son’s apartment was cleaned after the discovery of the body. The cleanup was coordinated by Mission Security Officer and former Army member Christian Thompson.

The former soldier would have had the keys delivered directly by the Colombian owner. Finally, some of Paciolla’s personal effects have disappeared.