NNaples – Five years after Mario Paciolla's death, the demand remains the same, and today it resounded loudly through the streets of Naples: truth and justice.
Hundreds marched from the Town Hall to Piazza Dante, in the heart of the city, to remember the young Neapolitan aid worker found dead on July 15, 2020, in his home in San Vicente del Caguán, Colombia, where he was working for a UN mission.
A case closed in Italy as suicide, but which the family and a large network of activists and associations continue to consider a homicide.
"Mario was killed," his mother, Anna Motta, shouted into a megaphone, to applause from the crowd. "Every young person has the right to go abroad for an experience and return home. But Mario came back in a fruit crate.
We cannot accept this." With her and her husband, Pino Paciolla, were representatives of Libera, CGIL, Articolo 21, Mediterranea, Gruppo Abele, the National Federation of the Press, and the Human Rights Film Festival, as well as institutional representatives such as the deputy mayor of Naples, Laura Lieto, the Democratic Party MP Marco Sarracino, and the former mayor Luigi de Magistris, together with Don Luigi Ciotti.
"We won't stop," Anna Motta continued. "We knew from the beginning that it would be a difficult battle, because there are powerful forces behind Mario's death. But we are ready to move forward, to bring new evidence to support the reopening of the case. And if necessary, we will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights."
The investigation by the Rome prosecutor's office was closed at the prosecutor's request, despite expert reports and complaints from the family. "The government never responded to us," the father complained. Mario "We haven't even received a phone call from Minister Tajani." The case, the parents explain, was hastily dismissed as a suicide "because some people don't want to come to blows with the powers that be. But we won't give up."
MP Marco Sarracino announced his intention to request a scheduling of the proposal to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry, while Beppe Giulietti (Article 21) reiterated the call for an international investigation: "The UN must speak out. Someone within the UN knows what happened to Mario. It's time they told the truth."
Banners, photographs, and signs reading "Mario is not archived" were seen in the procession. Because, as Don Ciotti emphasized from the stage in Piazza Dante, "a country that renounces the truth dies slowly. We cannot allow Mario's death to be forgotten or covered up."
Meanwhile, the Paciolla family is considering further legal action. "We're gathering further documents," explains the father, "and if there's any new information, we'll ask for the case to be reopened in Italy. Alternatively, we're ready to go before the European Court of Human Rights. Because whoever killed Mario cannot go unpunished."
A cry, for the truth about Mario Paciolla, which rose from Naples today louder than ever.
Article published on 15 July 2025 - 22:19
An expert in diplomatic and international law, he has worked in the publishing and communications industries for over 30 years. He has served as a representative of local publishers in FIEG, as Director of Canale 10, and as General Manager of Centro Stampa srl. He has a keen understanding of the Caserta area.
