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Italian president visits victim of Rome robbery

Xinhua, January 10, 2012

• Policemen are investigating the site of an armed robbery in Rome. A Chinese man and his less than one-year-old daughter were shot dead and his wife wounded in the robbery on January 4. [Photo/CFP]

  Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Monday visited Zheng Liyan, a Chinese woman who was injured and lost her husband and daughter in an armed robbery in Rome last Wednesday.

  The visit, according to the president, was not only a gesture of closeness to a mother who was "destroyed by sorrow for the horrible murder of her daughter and her husband," but also a gesture of friendship toward the Chinese people and of solidarity with the Chinese community.

  Zheng, who is now treated at Rome's San Giovanni hospital, ran a bar and a money exchange in Rome with her husband. The couple were on their way home with their baby when two armed robbers approached them and demanded cash. They shot dead Zheng's husband and her daughter after their demands were rejected.

  Napolitano said he is satisfied with the commitment of the Italian government, law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to carry out the investigation to bring those responsible for the horrendous crime to justice.

  "It is something that we owe to ourselves. It is a duty that we owe to Italy, and it is also a duty that we owe to the Chinese people and the Chinese community," Napolitano said.

  Chinese Ambassador Ding Wei, who accompanied the president during the visit, appreciated Napolitano's personal visit, and hoped the criminals could be brought to justice as soon as possible.

  Two young North African migrants are now suspected by Italian police as the murderers of Zheng's husband, Zhou Zheng, and their baby daughter who was born in march. A large-scale manhunt has been launched in Italy and abroad for the suspects.

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