The body of Lassana Cisse, who was killed in a racially motivated attack, has left Malta for his native Ivory Coast, three years after his death.

Activist Maria Pisani,  is accompanying the corpse together with an official from the foreign affairs ministry. It has been flown to Paris and is enroute to Abidjan, the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. A funeral is expected to be held on Friday.

Cisse, a 42-year-old and father of two, was murdered in a drive-by shooting in April 2019 while he was walking home in Ħal Far.

Soldiers Franceso Fenech and Lorin Scicluna were subsequently arrested and accused of the murder as well as the attempted murder of another two men and a hit-and-run incident exposed by Times of Malta.

The murder as well as the other incidents are believed to be racially motivated. Both Fenech and Scicluna are currently out on bail.

While Cisse’s body was released for burial nine months after the murder, it wasn’t until last month that repatriation was finally organised, after repeated appeals by friends and family members to have the body released from the mortuary.

The government had committed to cover all repatriation costs, including transport to the burial place, permits and mortuary fees. In March 2020, however, following the outbreak of the pandemic, ports were closed and travel was severely limited due to surging virus cases.

A memorial for Cisse, led by Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Imam Mohammed El Sadi, was held earlier this month.