Terrorism, former Br Barbara Balzerani dead in Rome

Barbara Balzerani, member of the Red Brigades and leader of the Roman column, has died. She was 75 years old. Born in Colleferro in 1949, in 1975 she joined the Red Brigades of which she was the leader of the Roman column. As a very young woman, she took part in the Via Fani ambush in 1978, in which Aldo Moro's entire escort died. During the kidnapping of the Christian Democratic leader, Balzerani, together with Mario Moretti - to whom she was romantically linked at the time - occupied the main Brigatist operational base in Via Gradoli 96 in Rome. She took part in numerous murders, including that of magistrate Girolamo Minervini in 1980. In 1981, he participated in the kidnapping of NATO General James Lee Dozier. After the decline and crisis of the Br, she was arrested together with Gianni Pelosi in 1985 after a long period of absconding in which she was dubbed 'the red primula of the Br'.

In 1987, together with Renato Curcio and Mario Moretti, he took part in a television interview in which the three former brigade members agreed that the experience of the armed struggle in Italy was over and formally sanctioned the definitive surrender of the Br and the abandonment of the armed struggle.

She has never repented or disassociated herself. However, in 1993 she declared that she felt 'a deep regret for those whose affections were affected by those events and who continue to feel offended at every public appearance of those who, like me, made and declared themselves responsible for them'. In 2003, he also declared that he did not recognise any reason for continuity in the resumed activity of the so-called New Red Brigades, and defined the choice of armed struggle and clandestinity as 'absolutely unfeasible' in today's context. In prison, Balzerani confessed to the 1986 murder of the former mayor of Florence, Lando Conti.

In 2006, she was granted parole. She returned to freedom in 2011, after serving her sentence, and found employment in an IT cooperative. She died after a long illness.

Barbara Balzerani leaves behind questions as well as numerous mourners. "The news of Barbara Balzerani's death shocked me. True justice is the Lord's and now he has to answer to God, to us he did not". Adriana Zizzi, sister of Francesco, the policeman from Aldo Moro's escort who was killed in the Via Fani ambush, commented on the death of former Br Barbara Balzerani to Adnkronos. "In the face of death there are no words, only regret because a human life, which had its mistakes, its errors, its terrible past, especially for society, has gone missing. But in the face of human life there is only a prayer. She has done wrong, she has created pain, but I do not feel hatred, because hatred destroys. I will pray for her, so that wherever she is, she may be welcomed'. Thus to Adnkronos Giovanni Ricci, son of Domenico, carabiniere killed in the Via Fani ambush.