An Italian court on Wednesday cleared Somali national Omar Hashi Hassan of the 1994 murder in Mogadishu of Italian TV reporter Ilaria Alpi and cameraman Miran Hrovatin - leaving the case unsolved.
Hassan, who has served 16 years in jail for the crime, rejoiced with friends and relatives when the ruling was read out by the court in Perugia.
Alpi's mother Luciana, who backed Hassan's battle legal against the miscarriage of justice, was among those in court.
The acquittal came after a key prosecution witness in the trial that convicted Hassan of the murders, Ahmed Ali Rage, also known as Gelle, changed his testimony and said Hassan was innocent.
Thirty-two-year-old Alpi, who worked for Italian public broadcaster Rai3, and Hrovatin, 45, were killed in ambush by a seven-man commando on 20 March 20, 1994.
At the time of her murder, Alpi was investigating a weapons and illegal toxic waste trafficking case in which she believed the Italian army and other institutions were involved.
In 2009 former Calabrian mafia member Francesco Fonti told investigators that Alpi and Hrovatin were murdered because they had seen toxic waste shipped by the 'Ndrangheta arrive in Bosaso, Somalia.
The Alpi case was made into a 2002 movie 'Ilaria Alpi - the Cruelest Day' directed by Ferdinando Vincentini Ornagni and starring Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno.
