President Sergio Mattarella, Premier Giuseppe Conte and police chief Franco Gabrelli on Friday remembered anti-mafia magistrate Paolo Borsellino on the 27th anniversary of his assassination by Cosa Nostra.
Mattarella recalled Borsellino and also the five escorts who died with him.
"On the 27th anniversary of the Via d'Amelio massacre, in which, together with him, Agostino Catalano, Emanuela Loi, Vincenzo Li Muli, Walter Eddie Cosina and Claudio Traina lost their lives, I direct an emotional thought towards them and I renew my solidarity with their relatives, among whom, for the first year, Rita Borsellino is missing, she who continued the same commitment in other forms.
"The commitment for Paolo Borsellino, and for all the victims of the mafia, remains strong, to ensure, as well as the dutiful tribute of memory, justice and truth," the president said.
Conte also commemorated Borsellino.
"Today we recall magistrate Borsellino, killed 27 years ago along with the (five) escort agents," Conte said.
"His words and his courage are always alive in our memories, in our consciences.
"The search for the truth and fighting the mafias are an imperative for us, a daily commitment".
Borsellino and his escorts were killed by a huge carbomb like the one under the Palermo-airport highway that had killed his friend and colleague Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three escort officers two months earlier.
Gabrielli said that if anyone committed a crime in suspected cover-ups they should pay for it.
"If among us someone was wrong, if someone betrayed for performance anxiety or for shady projects, we are the first to demand the truth," he said referring to three police on trial in Caltanissetta for aggravated calumny and favouring the mafia.
"And they should not hide behind those who can no longer speak or behind shortcuts.
"We don't want comfortable truths".
Asked about the search for the truth on mafia bomb massacres of the early 1990s, Gabrielli said "the truth is non-negotiable.".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
