Diana Blefari Melazzi a member of the new Red Brigades has killed herself in prison in Rome.

The 43-year-old was found hanged in her cell at Rebibbia women’s prison where she was serving a life sentence for murder. Patrizo Gonnella is a prisoners rights activist: “Her time in detention has been difficult and unrelenting in poor conditions, its a desperate gesture, but one we could have anticipated.” Last week the Italian Court of Appeal upheld her sentence. She was one of four arrested for the killing of government adviser Marco Biagi, who was gunned down close to his home in Bologna in March 2002. The new Red Brigades are a modern incarnation of the original Red Brigades, which emerged in the 1970’s and were behind the kidnapping and murder of Italy’s former Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.More about: Death, Italy

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