Franceschini died, with Curcio and Cagol he was the founder of the Br
He had been definitively sentenced for, among other things, the kidnapping of the Genoese judge Mario Sossi and the murder of two MSI members in Padua in 1974
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Key points
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Alberto Franceschini, founder of the Red Brigades together with Renato Curcio and Mara Cagol, has died at the age of 78. The former terrorist passed away on 11 April, but the news spread in the evening of today, Saturday 26 April. He was born in Reggio Emilia into a family of communist tradition, an origin, by his own admission, that facilitated his militancy. He always maintained that his path in the Br was a continuation of the partisan struggle, a sort of red thread.
Sentenced to over 60 years in prison (but sentence will be reduced)
Franceschini was found guilty with final sentence of numerous terrorist acts, including the killing of two MSI members in Padua in June 1974 and the kidnapping of judge Mario Sossi in Genoa in the same year. In all, he was sentenced to over sixty years in prison on charges of double murder, constitution of an armed gang, constitution of subversive association, kidnapping, outrage against a public official and prison riot, but his sentence was later reduced.
The underground
.He entered politics at a very young age in the ranks of the Fgci, from which he was disillusioned after clashes with the PCI security service during a demonstration in 1969 against the Nato base in Miramare di Rimini. In February 1971, he did not report for military service and went into hiding: he was the first brigatista officially a fugitive. In Milan, in 1970, he joined the armed struggle and founded the Brigate Rosse with Renato Curcio, becoming one of its leaders. Arrested together with Curcio on 8 September 1974 thanks to the collaboration of Silvano Girotto, known as 'Frate Mitra', Franceschini will be one of the most active brigade members in special prisons for years. Also from prison, he joined Senzani's Guerrilla Party after the latter split from Moretti's Br.
The hunt for 'infamous'
.He will be one of the main proponents of hunting down those the terrorist organisation deemed 'infamous' and this will lead to some brutal executions of militants accused of denunciation to the point of even threatening Toni Negri with death in the courtyard of the Palmi prison, accusing him of seeking pacts with the judicial authorities.
He did not deny his militancy
.In 1982, he dissociated himself from the armed struggle and, although he did not deny his militancy, he distanced himself from political violence by expressing repentance. In 1987, he was granted his first furloughs and then house arrest. He left prison definitively in 1992 after his sentence had expired and, after 18 years in prison, he worked at the Arci Ora d'Aria. In February 2024, the last political case he was involved in, when he was identified together with other people who had gathered in Milan in the gardens dedicated to Anna Politkovskaya to commemorate Alexei Navalny. Once again at the centre of controversy.
