ROME -- The invite to a former Italian terrorist to teach on a judicial training course has been retracted following an outburst of controversy amongst the judges. Adriana Faranda, 65, was a member of the Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla organisation the Red Brigades (BR), and was involved in the kidnapping and murder of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro. She was appointed to work at a training course on restorative justice by the School of Magistrates, to start on Wednesday, but the decision was gone back on after the School admitted that her presence would have been "inappropriate."

 Faranda founded the extremist group Lotta Armata Potere Proletario ('Armed Fight Proletary Power'), before becoming heavily involved in the Rome faction of the Red Brigades and a member of their national council. She was later to abandoned the BR to enter new formations connected to far-left leader Franco Piperno.

 During the investigation into the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, Faranda declared that she was against the execution of the prime minister, but was confirmed to be the woman to have obtained the fake Alitalia uniforms worn by the ambushers of Moro's escort.

 The prime minister's five bodyguards were murdered by the group and Moro was placed in hiding in an apartment in Rome. He was brutally murdered after 55 days in captivity after the Italian authorities refused to hand over BR prisoners in return for Moro's release.

 Faranda was arrested in 1979, but released in 1994 without serving her full sentence. She wrote an autobiography describing her years in jail.

 Alessandra Galli, daughter of judge Guido Galli who was murdered by extreme-left armed group Prima Linea in 1980, was vocal in the outcry against Faranda's appointment. More "astonished" than "bitter," she expressed her "bewilderment [...] at the decision to invite Adriana Faranda [to the position]. In an institutional seat such as this one, it is unacceptable to be in dialogue with someone who was killed to undermine the State and the Constitution to which we as magistrates have pledged loyalty."

 Similar concerns were raised by Turin prosecutor Armando Spataro, who said that "my perplexity is not linked so much to the course itself but to the presence of former terrorists in a Training School for Magsitrates."

 However, the decision was defended by constitutional lawyer Valerio Onida. "There is not much to say. It is a course on restorative justice in which a unique and serious experience will be recounted that encourages reflection in a seat such as this one at the Magistrate's School. Where is the scandal? Or do people think that the School is a sancta sanctorum, a tabernacle which cannot be violated by the presence of certain people? The training course is by nature a place for reflection and confrontation, and the training of the magistrates cannot ignore themes such as this one."

 The School announced the retraction of their invite to Faranda on Wednesday afternoon.