From: "Enda Brophy" <enda_b-AT-email.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 23:03:52 -0500
Subject: AUT: Berlusconi Government Aide Murdered in Italy


Of importance to those who follow Italian 
politics. 

e.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/euro
pe/newsid_1882000/1882368.stm

Italian government aide murdered
 

A close aide to Italy's labour minister has 
been shot dead. 

Marco Biagi, an assistant to Labour 
Minister Roberto Maroni, was killed outside 
his home in the northern city of Bologna. 

 
Eyewitnesses said two people on a 
motorbike approached the 51-year-old 
economist and law professor as he cycled 
home, and gunned him down. 

Police have begun an investigation into 
what is being seen as an act of political 
terrorism. 

Interior Minister Claudio Scajola has 
interrupted his trip to the United States and 
decided to return immediately to Italy after 
learning of Mr Biagi's murder. 

He described the killing as a very grave act. 

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the 
killing "fills all Italians with pain". 

 
Marco Biagi: Drafted controversial labour 
laws

"Terrorism has shown yet again that it 
poses a danger that needs to be fought 
with all our power," he said in a statement. 

No-one has claimed responsibility for the 
shooting, but correspondents say the 
incident raises fears of a domestic terror 
attack. 

Mr Biagi's murder comes just weeks after 
the Justice Ministry warned that Italy could 
witness a revival of politically-motivated 
terrorism. 

Less than a month ago, a bomb exploded 
near the Interior Ministry in Rome. 

And left-wing groups are currently furious 
over a planned reform of labour statutes 
that will make it easier to hire and fire staff. 

Mr Biagi was one of the authors of the 
proposed employment changes. 

Legacy of terror 

During the 1970s and 1980s, Italy was 
plagued by domestic attacks from both 
right-wing and left-wing terrorists, which 
killed hundreds and left a legacy of 
lingering political hostility. 

In 1999, top Labour Ministry adviser 
Massimo D'Antona was killed in an attack 
allegedly carried out by the militant leftist 
Red Brigades. 

The group carried out many attacks in the 
1970s - most notoriously the 1978 killing of 
former Premier Aldo Moro. 
-- 

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