ROME – A newly erected monument in Rome that remembers the victims of left-wing terror group, the Red Brigades, during the so-called “Years of Lead” has been defaced and emblazoned with the letters of the group.

 A red “B” and “R” appeared on the monument, which was only put in place on Via Fani a few days ago, on March 16, during a ceremony to remember the kidnapping of former Italian prime minister, Aldo Moro, in 1978.

 Moro himself was later killed by the group following 55 days in captivity. Philip Willan, author of the book "Puppetmasters" on Italy's Cold War history, has described the event as “the Italian equivalent of the Kennedy assassination in the United States.”

 The monument itself remembers the five men who made up Moro’s security escort, who were killed by the Brigades when they ambushed his car. Italy’s President, Sergio Mattarella, laid a wreath in their honour at the site last week.

 Their deaths have remained controversial in Italy, with questions raised about the necessity of killing security personnel during the kidnap and the length of sentences given to those involved in the attack.   

 Old wounds have been opened recently by what almost appears to be a concerted campaign to remind the country of the Red Brigades previous attacks. On March 19, a wall of a university building in Modena was also defaced, where another of their victims, Marco Biagi, had taught.

 Biagi was an Italian law professor specialising in labour, who was gunned down by the group in 2002, supposedly for his role in advising the government of then-prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

 The phrases “Marco Biagi doesn’t pedal anymore” and “Honour to Mario Galesi,” one of Biagi’s assassins, appeared on the walls of the University of Modena’s Economic Faculty on the day of the sixteenth anniversary of his murder.

 Lorenzo Biagi, Marco’s son, broke his silence on the murder of his father following the vandalism and the comments of an ex-brigadist, Barbara Balzerani, that appeared to suggest that being a victim had become a “profession.”

 Lorenzo Biagi said at the time that the “State abandoned my father,” and called Balzerani’s comments “disgusting” and offensive to the victims.

 “I try not to hate anyone,” Biagi added. “However, obviously I’ll never forgive them, because I no longer have my father and this will remain so forever.”  

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