Judge rejects request for Ventre case to be closed

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 12 - A Rome judge has rejected a request from prosecutors for the case involving Luca Ventre, a 35-year-old Italian man who died after climbing over the gate of the Italian embassy to Uruguay in January 1, 2021, to be closed, the family's lawyer Fabio Anselmo said on Monday.
    The preliminary investigations judge also ordered for new investigations to be carried out inside the embassy, such as the acquisition of telephone records.
    In December 2022 Rome prosecutors said that Ventre had been strangled by a security guard,, Ruben Eduardo Dos Santos Ruiz, in the embassy courtyard but requested that the case be closed due to lack of jurisdiction as the suspect never formally entered Italian territory.
    Separately, in November 2022 the Uruguayan authorities concluded that Ventre's death was down to the effects of the consumption of cocaine and cleared the security guard. (ANSA).