Name Miran Hrovatin | Role Camera Operator | |
 | ||
Saluti da Miran (Trailer)
Miran Hrovatin (1949 in Trieste – 20 March 1994 in Mogadishu) was an Italian photographer and camera operator killed in Mogadishu, Somalia together with the Italian journalist Ilaria Alpi under mysterious circumstances.
Hrovatin belonged to the Slovenian ethnic community of Trieste. He worked before for the agency Alpe Adria then for the agency Videoest of Trieste.
On 20 March 1994 he and Ilaria Alpi were killed in an ambush on their jeep in Mogadishu by a seven-man commando unit after returning from Bosaso, while they were in Mogadishu reporting for Rai 3. With them were a bodyguard who escaped unharmed and disappeared, and the driver Sid Abdi who was also unhurt. Somali citizen Hashi Omar Hassan was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the double murder.
Miran was in Somalia to cover the Somali Civil War and investigate on an illegal traffic of weapons and toxic waste possibly concerning also the Italian Army and other Italian institutions.
In May 2009, Daniel Biacchessi wrote the story of Miran in his book Passion reporter.
On 20 March 2014, 20 years after their death, the Italian government has reportedly authorised the declassification of secret files into their death.
The Ilaria Alpi Award for Television Journalism (Italian: Premio giornalistico televisivo Ilaria Alpi) was created in his honor.