The Embassy of Italy in Bosnia and Herzegovina organized a commemoration for three journalists of the Italian RAI television, Mario Luchetta, Dario D’Angelo and Alessandro Ota, who were killed on this day in 1994 in Mostar while filming a report about children in war.
The Italian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marco Di Ruzza, the Mayor of Mostar, Mario Kordić, and the president of the City Council, Salem Marić, laid wreaths on the memorial plaque at the place of their death.
Ambassador Marco Di Ruzza recalled when journalists lost their lives while trying to make a special report for RAI in which they wanted to report on the tragedy and suffering of child victims of war.
Journalists entered the eastern part of Mostar with a humanitarian convoy accompanied by the UN mission after a truce was guaranteed, which, as often happened in those times, was immediately broken. Fortunately, the life of the boy Zlatko Omanović, who was with them and whose bodies were protected by these three journalists, was spared,” explained the ambassador.
He added that after that, little Zlatko was the first child who was helped by what would in a few months become the Luchetta Ota D’Angelo Hrovatin Foundation.
It is about an organization that is still very active in humanitarian projects, and whose representatives, as the ambassador said, will be present in Mostar next year on the 30th anniversary of the journalists’ deaths.
“Remembering them today, we can say that today’s journalists are a symbol of free, persistent, intelligent and brave journalism that aimed to document the drama of ordinary people during the war in order to highlight the severe suffering caused by the absurd conflict, journalism that did not know political, ethnic, linguistic or religious differences. These journalists fulfilled not only a professional role, but also a high civic obligation,” he said.
In his address, the ambassador also remembered his compatriots who died in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and emphasized that Italy supported the citizens of our country during the war with all their hearts.
“Their sacrifice must be a source of inspiration for all those who work to promote real processes of reconciliation in BiH so that this country can finally develop into a modern, cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic and pluricultural society, especially now that this country has received the status of a candidate country for EU membership. That decision was strongly supported by Italy,” emphasized Ambassador Marco Di Ruzza.
In the end, he thanked the mayor and the president of the City Council of Mostar, saying that their presence today shows that historical relations of friendship and solidarity connecting Italians to the City of Mostar, Fena reports.
