ROME -- Barbara Balzerani, ex member of the Brigate Rosse who participated in the killing of Aldo Moro, died age 75 in Rome on Monday, her friends said.

 Nicknamed the “red primrose”, Balzerani was born in 1949 in Colleferro and was the youngest of five. She started getting involved in left-wing circles in 1969, joining the Potere operaio, a radical left wing political group.

 After graduating in philosophy in 1974, she worked in a nursery for handicapped children as an assistant.

 Balzerani joined the Brigate Rosse in 1975, following many members of Potere operaio who had drifted further left. She became head of the Roman “column” of the brigade and participated in the kidnapping and killing of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978 alongside Mario Moretti, her partner at the time. Moretti later confessed to being the one who pulled the trigger.

 Moretti was arrested in 1981, after which Balzerani tried to keep the Brigate Rosse afloat. In Dec. 1981, she oversaw the kidnapping of the NATO General James Lee Dozier from his apartment in Verona and then became leader of one of the factions of the BR in the subsequent split.

 She was one of the last members of the Brigate Rosse to be arrested when she was found in 1985. She was arrested in Ostia after police received a call from a restaurant customer who had recognised her. At the time of her arrest, she was carrying a 9-calibre pistol in her bag.

 In prison, she confessed to the killing of Lando Conti, former mayor of Florence. She was sentenced to life. She was also involved with the killing of Girolamo Minervini. In 2006 she was granted parole and finally in 2011 was released from prison. In her later years, she became an author, often writing semi autobiographical novels.

 Balzerani never repented or dissociated herself from the brigade like many did to receive shorter sentencing, however in 1993 she expressed “her deepest regret” for her actions and later in 2003 denounced the New Red Brigade and said there was no longer a need for clandestine activity or an armed struggle.

 khg