Bologna massacre

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Rescue teams making their way through the rubble
Rescue teams making their way through the rubble

The Bologna massacre (Italian: Strage di Bologna) was a terrorist bombing at the Central Station of Bologna, Italy on the morning of August 2, 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. The main culprits came from the neo-fascist terrorist organization Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari, while two—and one former—members of the Italian military intelligence agency (SISMI) and Licio Gelli were charged with investigative diversion.

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[edit] Bombing and investigation

At 10:25 a.m., a timed improvised explosive device (IED) contained in an unattended suitcase detonated inside a popular air-conditioned waiting room. The IED was made of TNT and T4. The explosion destroyed most of the main building and hit the Ancona-Chiasso train that was waiting at the first platform. The blast was heard for miles. The roof of the waiting room collapsed onto the passengers, which greatly increased the total number killed in the terrorist attack.

On that summer Saturday the station was full of tourists and the city was unprepared for such a massive incident. There were not enough ambulances, so buses and taxis were used to transport the injured to hospitals.

The next day, police investigators found metal fragments and scraps of plastics near the source of the explosion.[1] The Italian Government led by Prime Minister Francesco Cossiga first assumed the explosion to have been caused by an accident, but within a short time the NAR were made responsible for the terrorist attack. Later, in a special session to the Senate, Cossiga supported the theory that neofascists were behind the attack, "unlike leftist terrorism, which strikes at the heart of the state through its representatives, black terrorism prefers the massacre because it promotes panic and impulsive reactions."[2][3]

[edit] Trials

A long, troubled and controversial court case and political issue ensued. The relatives of the victims formed an association (Associazione dei familiari delle vittime della strage alla stazione di Bologna del 2 agosto 1980) to raise and maintain civil awareness about the case.

General Pietro Musumeci, n°2 of the SISMI and revealed in 1981 to be a member of Propaganda Due (P2), was charged of having created falsified evidence to charge Roberto Fiore and Gabriele Andinolfi, two leaders of Terza Posizione who had fled in exile to London, of the bombing [4]. Both Terza Posizione leaders claimed that Musumeci was trying to divert attention from Licio Gelli, head of P2 [4].

A trial involving 20 suspects was initiated in 1987 [5].

In July 1988, four neo-fascists received life terms for the bombing: Valerio Fioravanti (23 at the time of the blast), his wife Francesca Mambro (born in 1960), Massimiliano Fachini and Sergio Picciafuoco. They also received sentences for belonging to an armed group, as well as Paolo Signorelli and Roberto Rinani, who where absolved of the charge for carrying out the attack.[6] Licio Gelli, leader of the masonic P2 lodge, as well as three others, Francesco Pazienza, Pietro Musumeci and Giuseppe Belmonte, received sentences for slandering the investigation.[6] Stefano Delle Chiaie, who was arrested in and extradited from Venezuela a year earlier, was absolved from the charge of subversive association.[7][8]

Two years later, in July 1990, an appeals court cancelled the convictions of the defendants Valerio Fioravanti; his wife, Francesca Mambro; Massimiliano Fachini; and Sergio Picciafuoco, as well as the slander convictions of Gelli and Pazienza. [9] A retrial was ordered in October 1993.[10]

On November 23, 1995, the Court of Cassation (Corte di Cassazione) issued the final sentence:

In April 1998, the former fascist Francesca Mambro was authorized to leave her prison during the day, and carried out activities against death penalty in the headquarters of the Radical Party [11].

To date those responsible for the attack and their political motives remain unknown. Some suspected that the Gladio network had been at least partially involved.[citation needed]

[edit] Recent developments

In 2004, Luigi Ciavardini, a 17-year old member of NAR and close to Terza Posizione at the time, received a 30-year prison sentence for his role in the attack, which was upheld by the Court of Cassation in April 2007.[12] Freed by the Italian justice until the sentence of the Court of the Cassation, Ciavardini had been imprisoned in October 2006, after being arrested following the armed robbery of the Banca Unicredito di Roma on 15 September 2005 [13][14]. Ciavardini was also charged of the assassination of Francesco Evangelista on May 28, 1980, and of the judge Mario Amato in June 1980 [14].

Following the 2006 arrest of former Argentine Triple A member Rodolfo Almirón, Spanish lawyer José Angel Pérez Nievas declared that it was "probable that Almirón participated — along with Stefano Delle Chiaie and Augusto Canchi — in the 1980 bombing in Bologna's train station." But the Argentine Supreme Court refused in 1998 to extradite Canchi to Italy [15].

[edit] Memorial

2 August is designated in Italy as a memorial day for all terrorist massacres. The municipality of Bologna together with the Associazione tra i famigliari delle vittime della strage alla stazione di Bologna del 2 agosto 1980 organize every year an international composing competition that ends with a concert in the town's main square Piazza Maggiore.

The area of the station where the bomb detonated has been reconstructed, but, as a memorial to the attack, the flooring has been kept in the same condition, and a deep crack in the main wall has been left as is. Moreover, the station main clock is forever stopped at 10:25, the exact time of the explosion.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "'95 Percent Sure' Station Blast Was Terror Bomb", Associated Press, 1980-08-03. 
  2. ^ "Police search starts for Bologna bombers", The Globe and Mail, 1980-08-05. 
  3. ^ "Neo-Fascists 'Prefer Massacre'", Reuters, 1980-08-06. 
  4. ^ a b René Monzat, Enquêtes sur la droite extrême, Le Monde-éditions, 1992, p.89
  5. ^ "Bizarre complexities of bombing to unfold in Italian courtroom," St. Petersburg Times, March 1, 1987 (English)
  6. ^ a b "Court issues sentences in Bologna train bombing", United Press International, 1988-07-11. 
  7. ^ "One Of World's Most-Wanted Terrorists Arrested", Associated Press, 1987-03-30. 
  8. ^ "Four Convicted Of Mass Murder In Italian Bombing That Killed 85", Associated Press, 1988-07-11. 
  9. ^ "Appeals Court Throws Out Bologna Bombing Convictions", Associated Press, 1990-07-19. 
  10. ^ "Second Appeals Trial Begins for Train Station Bombing", Associated Press, 1993-10-11. 
  11. ^ Anne Hanley, "Bologna bomber slips back into society," The Independent, April 16, 1998 on-line (English)
  12. ^ "Bologna bomber's 30-year jail term confirmed", Associated Press, 2007-04-11. 
  13. ^ Strage di Bologna, 30 anni a Ciavardini - Cassazione conferma la condanna all'ex Nar, La Repubblica, April 11, 2007 (Italian)
  14. ^ a b Arrestato l'estremista nero Ciavardini per una rapina a mano armata, La Repubblica, October 10, 2006 (Italian)
  15. ^ Denuncian que Almirón también participó en la ultraderecha española, Telam Argentine news agency, January 6, 2007 (Spanish)

[edit] Further reading

  • La strage. L’atto d’accusa dei giudici di Bologna, dir. Giuseppe de Lutiis, Editori Riuniti, Rome, 1986

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 44°30′22″N, 11°20′32″E