The president of the Italian Christian Democratic Party, Signor Aldo Moro (61), who had been Prime Minister five times between 1963 and 1976 and who was widely expected to become the next President of Italy, was kidnapped on March 16 by members of the extreme left-wing Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse), who ambushed his car in a Rome street in broad daylight, killing five bodyguards.
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The attack took place shortly before Parliament began its debate on a vote of confidence in the new Communist-supported Christian Democratic Government of Signor Giulio Andreotti which had taken office on March 13, and while a trial was in progress in Turin of the Red Brigades leader, Signor Renato Curcio, and other members of the organization on charges of forming an armed group to subvert the state.
Massive police and army operations over the next few weeks failed to uncover any trace of the kidnapped politician, who according to a series of communiqués from the Red Brigades underwent a "trial by a people's court" and was "condemned to death". The Government refused to negotiate with the organization, which eventually demanded the release of "communist" (i.e. Red Brigades) prisoners in return for the freedom of their hostage, and Signor Moro's body was found riddled with bullets on May 9 in a car in the centre of Rome, close to both the Christian Democratic and Communist Party headquarters.
The declared aim of the Red Brigades was to create a situation in which a fascist coup would be provoked, leading to a return by the Communists to their "revolutionary" role (which the Red Brigades accused them of abandoning by collaborating with the Government) and to the consequent outbreak of a civil war, which would, they believed, bring the left to power.
The Red Brigades were founded in 1969 and carried out their first terrorist act in 1970 with the bombing of a Milan electronics firm. in 1972-73 they kidnapped several company officials and subjected certain of them to "trials" , and in 1974 their "attack on the state" began with the abduction of a Genoese magistrate, Signor Mário Sossi. The assassination in June 1976 of the state prosecutor, Signor Francesco Coco , led to the first postponement of the trial against Signor Curcio and other Red Brigades members, while the murder in April 1977 of the head of the Turin lawyers' association, Dr Fulvio Croce , led to a second postponement. Red Brigades' attacks against certain sectors of society, specifically journalists, Christian Democratic Party officials and industrialists, became frequent in 1977, being characterized by the shooting of victims in the legs.
This article comes from Keesings Worldwide Online
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