Barbara Balzerani, Former Red Brigades Terrorist, Passes Away

Barbara Balzerani, former terrorist of the Red Brigades, has died. Born in Colleferro in 1949, she was 75 years old. She had been battling an illness for some time. Joining the extreme fringe of left-wing terrorism at just twenty-six, Balzerani soon participated in the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, operating alongside her then-partner, Mario Moretti, from the operational base in Via Gradoli. Who was Barbara Balzerani In 1981, she took part in the kidnapping of NATO General, James Lee Dozier. Known as the "Red Primrose" of the Red Brigades, Barbara Balzerani was arrested in 1985, four years after the failed attempt to manage the split of the organization, leading the faction of the "Red Brigades - Fighting Communist Party". From prison, she claimed responsibility for the murder of the former mayor of Florence, Lando Conti, carried out by the Br, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. She never technically repented nor dissociated herself, but in 1993 she declared feeling “a deep regret for those who were affected in their loved ones because of those events and who continue to feel offended at every public appearance of someone like me, who has declared and been declared responsible for them”. On December 12, 2006, she was granted parole, before finally being released in 2011.