This archive report was first published on 30 July 2019.
On Monday, a somber mood filled a provincial church in Rome as hundreds of mourners, including Italian political leaders, gathered for the funeral of Mario Cerciello Rega, a 35-year-old policeman allegedly murdered by two American teenagers.
The funeral took place just two months after Cerciello Rega's wedding in his hometown of Somma Vesuviana, near Naples. Six policemen carried his coffin out of the church, where it was draped in an Italian flag and a shirt of Napoli, his favorite soccer team.
The killing of Cerciello Rega on Friday has sent shockwaves through Italy and raised questions about the country's judicial system. A photo emerged of one of the accused Americans in police custody with a blindfold and his hands handcuffed behind his back.
Archbishop Santo Marciano delivered a powerful eulogy, saying, “Enough with mourning servants of the state, children of a nation that seems to have lost those values for which they sacrifice their lives.” The archbishop did not mention the accused Americans.
Outside the church, a giant banner displayed a picture of Cerciello Rega, and after the ceremony, the crowd released white balloons into the sky.
Cerciello Rega was stabbed to death in a central neighborhood of Rome early on Friday while trying to arrest the two Americans, now in jail. The accused have been identified as students Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, both from San Francisco.
A judge has ordered the two Americans to be kept in jail, citing their “total absence of self-control and critical capacity,” describing them as a danger to society.
