Boccaccini, the Red Brigades member who killed Marco Biagi, has been released –

Aldo Torchiaro

August 11, 2024

He studied the changing world of work, the Bolognese labor lawyer Marco Biagi. And the terrorists studied him. It was the evening of March 19, 2002 when Biagi was killed by a Red Brigades commando outside his home in Via Valdonica, in the heart of Bologna. He was returning, pedaling his bicycle through the arcades of the center, after getting off the train that was taking him back from the University of Modena. He taught Labor Law and Trade Union Law. All his movements, from the station to his home, had been followed for some time. And Biagi knew it, suspected it. He had asked for an escort. They had given it to him, then taken it away. For the murder of the professor, members of the New Red Brigades Nadia Desdemona Lioce, Roberto Morandi, Marco Mezzasalma and Diana Blefari were sentenced to life imprisonment. And Simone Boccaccini, who was released yesterday. His name is linked to a sentence of over 25 years in total for having taken part in the killing of Biagi and that of Massimo D’Antona, also a jurist, assassinated by the New BR on 20 May 1999. Now he is free again.

Florentine, now 64, Boccaccini was a plumber employed by the Municipality of Florence and a trade unionist for the Rdb – then struck off when he was arrested. He was released from the prison in Alessandria, where he was serving his sentence, thanks to a reduction of 10 months and good behavior in prison recognized by the Surveillance Court. Accused of having participated in the preparatory phase of the crime, namely the stalking of Biagi in Bologna in the months and days preceding the ambush, Boccaccini had been sentenced, in 2005, to life imprisonment by the Court of Assizes of Bologna. Sentence reduced to 21 years on appeal in 2006 and confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2007. In 2005, acquitted of the charge of murder for the death of Massimo D’Antona, he had been sentenced to 5 years and 8 months for subversive association confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2007. His early release lacerates a wound impossible to heal for the family of Marco Biagi. “Total indifference towards this murderer – says his son Lorenzo – the only thing that matters to me is obviously moving forward with my life, with my father always in my heart”. In light of the decision of the Surveillance Court of Alessandria, the voice of the mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, rises. “I express my closeness and that of the city to the Biagi family – he emphasizes – the news of the release for good behavior of a person involved in the plan that killed Professor Biagi is truly a decision that shocks us”. Michele De Pascale, who will run for the presidency of Emilia-Romagna for the center-left, is of the same opinion. “I join the words of closeness that are coming from all over Italy to the family of Marco Biagi. The murder of Professor Biagi remains one of the saddest and most painful pages in the recent history of Emilia-Romagna. The release order for good behavior hurts not only the family but the entire community.”

The Bologna deputy of Fratelli d’Italia, deputy minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Galeazzo Bignami, is “saddened and disheartened”. “I understand that the laws have been applied, I understand that a rehabilitation program must be offered, but this does not eliminate the shock and bitterness. Can more be done to guarantee the certainty of punishment? Yes, certainly. As in all things, we can do better. But let’s not forget that this Government today is preventing initiatives from taking over that would make our penal system even more lenient and lax”. Giuliano Cazzola, a former trade unionist from Bologna who over the years has become one of Marco Biagi’s best friends, is moved. “I met Marco in 1974. I saw his children being born. I played with them when they were little. And we also had a relationship of mutual respect and collaboration. We had a regular family meeting on August 15th at his country house in Pianoro. It was there that he told me that they had taken away his guardianship.” And now that we are almost at mid-August, however, he feels that it is time to look forward. “Lorenzo made the most correct considerations. Justice has been done for Marco’s murder. Boccaccini served his sentence, taking advantage of discounts provided by law. Marco was a good Christian, I believe that from the Field of the Just where he rests in peace he has no desire for revenge. Lorenzo was right: three more years of imprisonment would not have given him his father back.”