Barbara Balzerani (born 16 January 1949) is an Italian terrorist.

Early life

Balzerani was born at

Colleferro Colleferro (IPA: /kɔllefɛrro/) is a small town with 20 698 inhabitants of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is a residential zone with many different industries and sports structures. It borders the City of ...

, in the

province of Rome The Province of Rome ( it, Provincia di Roma) was one of the five provinces that formed part of the region of Lazio in Italy. It was established in 1870 and disestablished in 2014. It was essentially coterminous with the Rome metropolitan area. ...

Career

In the 1970s Balzerani became a leader of the

Red Brigades The Red Brigades ( it, Brigate Rosse , often abbreviated BR) was a far-left Marxist–Leninist armed organization operating as a terrorist and guerrilla group based in Italy responsible for numerous violent incidents, including the abduction ...

(Italian ''Brigate Rosse'', or BR, which she had joined in 1975) in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. She took part in several killings, such as that of Girolamo Minervini and the assassination of Aldo Moro's escort in Via Fani (1978). After the arrest of BR's national leader Mario Moretti in 1981, she unsuccessfully tried to handle the split in the organization, becoming a leader of the "Brigate Rosse - Partito Comunista Combattente", while Giovanni Senzani led the other faction, the "BR - Partito Guerriglia". During the detention of Aldo Moro, she occupied, together with Moretti, the BR base in Via Gradoli in Rome. The base was discovered due to a water leak, allegedly caused by a tap left open - although the circumstance of its discovery by Italian police forces were never totally made clear. In 1981 she participated in the abduction of US general

James L. Dozier James Lee Dozier (born April 10, 1931) is a retired United States Army officer. In December 1981, he was kidnapped by the Italian Red Brigades Marxist guerilla group. He was rescued by NOCS, an Italian special force, with assistance from the ...

. She was one of the last historical BR leaders to be arrested, in 1985. From prison, she claimed responsibility for the assassination of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

's former mayor Lando Conti. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, but was paroled on 12 December 2006. She received complete freedom in 2011. Balzerani has written four books, ''Compagna luna'' (1998), ''La sirena delle cinque ''(2003), '' Perché io, perché non tu'' (2009) B and ''Cronaca di un'attesa'' (2011).

References

External links

Biography at brigaterosse.org website

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at ''

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of I ...

'' archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Balzerani, Barbara 1949 births Living people People from Colleferro Red Brigades Italian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment