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DPA
Rome
Human rights and disarmament campaigners said Wednesday they filed a criminal complaint against Italian arms supplies to Saudi Arabia, allegedly used in Yemen's brutal war.
According to activists, fragments of bombs made in Sardinia by RWM Italia, a subsidiary of German defence company Rheinmetall, have been found on airstrike targets in Yemen.
Rome Prosecutors were urged to probe the allegation by NGOs Mwatana of Yemen, Italy's Rete Italiana per il Disarmo and the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR).
In a statement, the organisations called"for an investigation into the criminal liability" of the Italian arms export licence authority UAMA and of RWM Italia executives.
Rheinmetall was not immediately available for comment.
In their complaint, seen by dpa, the NGOs said UAMA and RWM~Italia officials should be"charged and punished" for abuse of office and complicity in multiple manslaughter and personal injury.
"The authorisation and export of arms to Saudi Arabia [...] amount to serious criminal offences, as they offered a conscious causal contribution to the death of Yemeni civilians," the NGOs argued.
They pointed at evidence that RWM Italia bombs were used in an October 8, 2016 raid in Deir al-Hajari, north-west Yemen, that killed a family of six, including a pregnant mother and four children.
The NGOs said they could bring in three witnesses of the attack.
