ITALY: Another massacre of Jehovah’s Witnesses thwarted in an EU member state
By Raffaella di Marzio (LIREC)
LIREC (12.03.2026) – The LIREC Study Center expresses its solidarity and closeness to the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses for what occurred on 1 March in Bari, at the Kingdom Hall on Via Buccari, in the Carrassi district.
A man showed up at the Kingdom Hall during the religious service and asked to be allowed to participate. After he was welcomed, the worshippers noticed that a smell of gasoline was coming from a bag he was carrying, which aroused suspicion.
Following the arrival of law enforcement officers, it emerged that the man had left in the Hall a bag containing a device that he appears to have built himself. The smell of gasoline gave him away, and he fled the scene.
He was subsequently arrested and charged with “manufacture and unlawful possession of explosive devices and disruption of religious services.”
Had the device exploded, it could have caused a massacre, also affecting the numerous children present in the place of worship with their parents.
La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno reports that: “According to the reconstruction by investigating judge Nicola Bonante, the 39-year-old had built a homemade explosive–incendiary device: a plastic jerrycan containing gasoline, matches, and a cigarette, ready to trigger a fire among the worshippers gathered for a religious ceremony.”
Furthermore, “in the order, Judge Bonante emphasizes Cuoccio’s social dangerousness and the concrete possibility that he could repeat similar crimes, which is why pretrial detention in prison was ordered, deemed the only measure capable of protecting the community. The motives for the act are not clear, but Judge Nicola Bonante—who signed the order that sent the suspect to prison—does not rule out that the act may have been based on a ‘theological motive’ or ‘religious fanaticism.’”
It is important to reiterate, as we have done for many years, that such episodes do not occur by chance. The climate that incites hatred, the particularly serious and at times extreme stigmatization of this religious community—unfounded and based solely on fake news and propaganda spread by individuals and groups that invoke the notorious “anti-cult ideology”—constitute the fertile ground from which the diseased tree of violence grows.
A great deal of responsibility in this communicative process lies with the media, as we have pointed out on numerous occasions.
So that what has happened is not forgotten, we recall only some of the serious attacks against Jehovah’s Witnesses that we have reported in the past:
- Bomba carta esplode a Roma, davanti alla Sala del Regno di Piazza delle Camelie (Italy, 2025)
- Ancora violenza contro i Testimoni di Geova: Bomba davanti a una Sala del Regno (Italy, 2023)
- Massacre at a Kingdom Hall in Germany: solidarity and support for the victims and the Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Germany, 2023)
- Bomb attack during Jehovah’s Witnesses’ annual event in Kerala: solidarity with victims’ families and congregation (India, 2023)
HRWF Comment about the media coverage
It is a bit strange that the incident happened on 1 March but was only reported by the media a dozen days later, as if only some religious communities deserve attention while “others” do not. It is the moral and professional duty of press agencies to treat all religions on an equal footing.
It must however be stressed that Italian newspapers immediately and fairly reported the incident as soon as it came to their attention. A few examples:
etc.
Photo credits : www.baritoday.it
