Ex-premier Giuliano Amato has said
that a French missile was behind the
mysterious 1980 Ustica plane crash that left 81 people dead.
Amato said the Dc9 Bologna-Palermo flight operated by the
now-defunct Itavia airline that crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea
between the islands of Ponza and Ustica on June 27, 1980, was
hit in an attempt to assassinate late Libyan leader Muammar
Gaddafi.
"A plan was hatched to hit the aeroplane that Gaddafi was
travelling on," Amato told Saturday's edition of daily newspaper
La Repubblica.
"But the Libyan leader evaded the trap because he was warned by
(late Italian Socialist Party leader and ex-premier Bettino)
Craxi.
"Now the Elysee Palace can wash off the dishonour that weighs on
(the conscience of) Paris".
Daria Bonfietti, the president of the association of relatives
of victims of the disaster, welcomed the revelation.
"These words are important and this is a correct reconstruction
of everything that is in the documents (regarding the case),
which we have known for years," Bonfietti said.
The crash, which claimed the lives of 13 children, has been the
object of numerous investigations, legal actions and
accusations, including claims of conspiracy.
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