Traini gets 12 years for migrant shooting spree

(ANSA) - Macerata, October 3 - A Macerata court on Wednesday handed down a 12-year jail sentence for rightist militant Luca Traini, 29, for shooting and wounding six African migrants in Macerata on February 3 in 'revenge' for the murder and dismemberment of a Roman woman allegedly by a Nigerian drug pusher who had nothing to do with Traini's targets.
    Furthermore, he was sentenced to pay compensation to the plaintiffs.
    He will also have to serve three further years on parole after his jail term is served.
    The maximum possible sentence was 22 years.
    Traini was found to have been of sound mind when he carried out his crimes.
    He is expected to appeal.
    The prosecutor's office had reduced its sentence request to 12 years based on extenuating circumstances for Traini and given that he opted for a summary judgment.
    During his hearing earlier Wednesday, Traini apologised in court and said "I made a mistake".
    "I don't have any racial hate, I wanted to bring justice against drug dealers; there was a bombardment of news about the spread of drug dealers due to immigration, even my ex-girlfriend took drugs," he said, reading from a prepared statement.
    "In prison I gained a new understanding of the facts," he said, adding that he had a difficult childhood but is "neither crazy nor borderline".
    Traini went on his spree three days after the discovery of the body of Pamela Mastropietro outside Pollenza near Macerata.
    A Nigerian drug pusher, Innocent Oseghale, has been charged with her rape, murder and dismemberment.
    He says they had consensual sex, she died of an overdose and he disposed of the body because he was afraid he might be accused of murder.
    Traini picked his targets at random and then went to a monument in Macerata where he posed wrapped in an Italian flag.
    Police found Nazi literature and far-right memorabilia in his home.
    In 2016 he stood unsuccessfully in local elections for the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League party.