Valerio Ercole and Antonello Migneco restoring hope in Somalia

Saturday, 10th April 1993. Camp Johar, Somalia.

Italian paratrooper Valerio Ercole (Airborne Brigade "Folgore") gives prisoner Ali Abukar Aden's genitalia electroshock while private Antonello Migneco holds him firlmly on the ground with his foot.

Facts occurred during mission IBIS, part of UN Operation "Restore Hope" (I & II). Ali Abukar Aden had been accused of theft and become impotent as result of torture.

Both Ercole and Migneco were found not guilty of any crime.

Pictures taken by former paratrooper Stefano Valsecchi were first published by the Italian news magazine "Panorama" on 13th June 1997, in the article "Somalia. Le nuove foto della vergogna" by M. Gregoretti.

Pictures also showed the rape of a Somali woman by Italian soldiers. The girl was penetrated with a grenade covered with jam.

No other soldiers went to court. Nobody was ever found guilty. No other pictures/stories made it to the public.