A military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sentenced six men to life in prison on Friday over the death of the Italian ambassador and two other people.

Public prosecutors had originally sought the death penalty for the six accused.

One of the six men was convicted in absentia.

Lawyers for the accused told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that they would appeal the verdict.

What do we know about the killing of the Italian ambassador?

Three people, including Italian ambassador Luca Attanasio, were killed on February 22, 2021 in an ambush on a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) convoy in eastern Congo.

Italian police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, who worked as Attanasio's body guard, and Congolese driver Mustapha Milambo were also killed in the attack.

The convoy was made up of two WFP vehicles. It was ambushed about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the eastern city of Goma, near Virunga National Park.

According to the account of the attack providing in court, the attackers blocked the car containing Attanasio and shot Milambo, then leading the other occupants of the vehicle into the bush.

Park rangers then followed the group and exchanged fire with them, after which Iacovacci was killed.

Attanasio was alsho shot and later died of his wounds in a hospital in Goma.

Who was behind the attack?

At the time, Kinshasa blamed a Hutu militia, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). The militia denied involvement and called the attack a "cowardly assassination."

Other officials said the was to be an attempt to demand ransom before it was botched.

Congolese police arrested the six suspects on January 2022.

The six men initially confessed to an attempted abduction for ransom. The defendants later denied the confessions, saying that they had been extracted under torture.

Eastern Congo has seen conflict between rival militias and the government for decades. United Nations and humanitarian organizations have warned that kidnappings and attacks on aid convoys are on the rise in the country.

sdi/jcg (AFP, Reuters)