[News] Ustica drama. The DC9 was shot down by a French fighter plane, denounces the Italian Amato

(B2) The former Italian Prime Minister confided in detail this Saturday (September 2) in the daily La Republic. He confirms what is a of the greatest mysteries of modern aeronautics. The Ustica DC9 case. A drama on the Italian side. A well-kept secret on the NATO side, American as well as... French. Giulano Amato asks France and President Macron to tell the whole truth.

• 43 years ago, on June 27, 1980, a little before 21 p.m., Itavia DC-870 flight 9, leaving from Bologna to Palermo, crashed into the sea in the north of Sicily, near the island from Ustica. Toll: 81 dead. The hypothesis of a missile launch by NATO forces has often been raised on the Italian side. Never really confirmed... nor really denied either on the American or French sides or other NATO allies.
• If Italy has carried out several investigations (a parliamentary commission of inquiry, a lengthy judicial investigation led by judge Rosario Priore, several civil liability trials leading to cassation judgments), none has been carried out in France. And every trace carefully concealed.
• Amato had a front row seat backstage after the events. Bettino Craxi, of whom he was one of the close advisors “ asked me to take care of it in August 1986. The request came from the President of the Republic, Francesco Cossiga, under pressure from parliamentarians and intellectuals ».

Objective: kill Gaddafi

Former Prime Minister Giuliano Amato (Democratic Party) points according to « the most credible version [...] the responsibility of the French Air Force, with the complicity of the Americans " and others. Their objective : " kill Gaddafi ". An accusation already made in 2008 by the then prime minister, the Christian Democrat Franciso Cossiga, who later became president (1). 

A NATO exercise as a smokescreen

To cover their tracks, the allies have an idea: “ simulate a NATO exercise, with many planes in action, during which a missile was to be launched against the Libyan leader. “An exercise that is in fact a real” staging that would have made the attack look like an unintentional accident ».

A missile launched by a French fighter

The objective of the attackers: to target the Mig where Gaddafi is presumed to have boarded on his return from Yugoslavia. Having sensed the danger of all this movement in the sky, " the Mig pilot hides near the Dc9 so as not to be hit ". Allied fighters fire. “ The launched missile ended up hitting the DC9 of the Itavia ". All 81 passengers and crew died. This missile has been « launched by a French fighter from an aircraft carrier off the southern coast of Corsica [the Foch] or the Solenzara military base, very busy that evening » relates Amato. " France has never shed any light on this. »

Gaddafi warned by Craxi

A hit for nothing. The Mig 23s which took off from Yugoslavia to return to Libya, via Italian soil, were empty. « Gaddafi was warned of the danger and did not board his plane. » According to Amato, it was Bettino Craxi, head of the Italian Socialist Party, then MEP, himself who “ warned Gaddafi of the danger that reigned in the Italian sky ". A statement that he " learned " afterwards, " without evidence he acknowledges.

Targeted Mig also crashes

As for the Mig, it also ends up crashing. All unexpected aerial developments have “ caused fuel exhaustion ". Another version exists according to which the Mig would have been hit by the French missile and the explosion would have overwhelmed the DC9 " but this thesis convinces me less ».

The opaque silence

The Italian politician also denounces the silence of the military and NATO. "From the start, the military remained in an armored silence, hampering the investigations “, sticking to versions not very credible contradicted by the facts, that of the bomb posed in the plane. " Lies ! ". NATO blocks all information. The investigation of Rosario Priore, a very good examining magistrate [...] had to stop at NATO's door ". As for France, it “ never shed light about his involvement.

The time for truth has come

For Amato, forty years later », the time has come to come to the truth. " A prolonged silence does not seem to me to be a solution. “And to ask Emmanuel Macron” to remove the shame that hangs over France ". In two ways: either by demonstrating that this thesis is unfounded, or, once its validity has been verified, by presenting the most sincere apologies to Italy and to the families of the victims on behalf of its government ».

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

1. Civil war is raging in neighboring Chad, with Libya stoking the conflict between the various Libyan factions (between Goukouni Weddeye and Hissène Habré in particular) and also occupying the Aouzou strip in the north of the country. Gaddafi also supports various terrorist movements. 

On the subject see also the documentary by Emmanuel Ostian, Capa 2015, broadcast on Canal Plus

Updated - Details on Amato's functions in the investigation