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Europe
Italian Judge Orders 17 Suspects to Trial
2004-10-20
"Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!"
A judge on Tuesday ordered trials for 17 suspected members of the Red Brigades for their alleged role in the 1999 slaying of a labor consultant, Italian media reported, as it emerged that the leftist terror group kept files on top figures, including Premier Silvio Berlusconi. The murder of Massimo D'Antona, who was advising the government on a bitterly contested labor reform, was the first high-profile attack by the Red Brigades after a decade of silence. Three years later, the group killed another labor consultant to the government, Marco Biagi. The judge ordered trial to begin Feb. 17 in Rome for 15 of the suspects, the reports said. Two other suspects were to be tried separately.

The Red Brigades bloodied Italy during the 1970s and 80s, the so-called "years of lead," with attacks that mainly targeted police, military and business leaders. Their most notorious act was the 1978 kidnapping and slaying of former Premier Aldo Moro. Investigators searching computer files provided by an arrested Red Brigades suspect found notes in alphabetically ordered files on top personalities, including Berlusconi, in the years before he became premier in 2001, and President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, a former central bank governor, the Italian news agencies ANSA and Apcom reported. Enrico Letta, a former minister and currently a center-left lawmaker, told reporters he apparently was a target of the Brigades, according to clues found by police in the files. Letta appealed to the arrested suspect, Cinzia Banelli, to continue to cooperate with authorities. Banelli reportedly gave investigators the password to open the files. The file about Ciampi gave details on his bodyguards at his private residence, ANSA said. The news that Berlusconi and Ciampi "were monitored by the Red Brigades along with other top political figures confirms the inviolable need to keep up the guard," said Renato Schifani, the Senate whip for the premier's Forza Italia party. ANSA quoted a center-left senator, Stefano Passigli, as saying authorities informed him on Monday that he, too, was a Red Brigades target in 2000 when he was an undersecretary to former Premier Massimo D'Alema.
Posted by:Fred

#1  The New Red Brigade (NRB) is picking up where their predecessor group left off. During a meeting of radical groups in Italy a few years ago, the NRB offered both training and encouragement to eco/animal rights associated terrorist groups. Training included bomb making and assassination techniques. The Earth Liberation Front, Greenpeace and Animal Liberation Front were front a center. In a final send off speech, an NRB spokesman proclaimed (I paraphrase) “…it’s time to put down your signs and pick up guns…”
Posted by: Unogum Elminenter3776   2004-10-20 10:47:30 AM  

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