Red Brigades justify 'execution'

Biagi was "executed" because of his labour reforms

ROME Italy -- A group claiming to be an offshoot of the Red Brigades guerrilla movement in Italy has posted a 26-page document on the Internet explaining why it "executed" a top government adviser.

Marco Biagi, 52, was shot dead on Tuesday in Bologna with the same pistol used to kill another government aide in 1999, the interior minister said.

"An armed nucleus of our organisation executed Marco Biagi," the document released on Thursday says.

Biagi was targeted, it says, because his work as a consultant to the labour minister made him part of a government that "represents the interests of bourgeois imperialism."

In its diatribe against modern capitalism, the group accused Biagi of "exploiting" workers with the labour reforms he had co-authored.

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The message described Biagi's reforms as a "regulation of the exploitation of salaried workers."

It also makes several references to the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S. and appears to praise the "strategic context that showed that a highly destructive attack can be inflicted to the heart of the enemy's territory."

It criticises the U.S. "imperialistic" response which it describes as a "warmongering projection...aimed at resolving, in a definitive way, the subjection of Iraq."

The document was e-mailed to an independent regional news agency, Caserta 24 Ore, which posted it on its Web site -- www.caserta24ore.it.

Biagi, a professor at the University of Modena and an adviser to the European Commission in employment and social affairs, was a strong proponent and one of the authors of controversial labour reforms.

The government says they are necessary to create more jobs in a flexible labour market and bring Italy into line with the rest of Europe. Unions say the reforms would make it easier to fire workers.

Biagi, who will receive a state funeral at the weekend, was shot dead outside his apartment building by gunmen on a motorscooter.

Shortly afterwards, the Red Brigades claimed responsibility in an anonymous phone call to a Bologna newspaper.

A huge crowd marches through Rome as part of an anti-terror protest

Interior Minister Claudio Scajola said the killing was an attempt to break apart Italian society while Prime Minister Silvio Berlsuconi vowed to press on with the controversial employment laws favoured by Biagi.

Pope John Paul condemned the killing, telling pilgrims at a regular Vatican audience it was "barbarous."

And on Wednesday, thousands of demonstrators held a candle light vigil in Rome calling for an end to terrorism.

The 15,000-strong procession, including politicians, church groups and union leaders, was initially planned to address the Middle East conflict. But it was broadened at the last minute to condemn terrorism after the killing of Biagi.

The Red Brigades, a left-wing terrorist group, carried out a wave of bloody attacks in the 1970s, including the notorious murder of Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.

In 1999 the group murdered Massimo D'Antona, another senior government adviser.

It suffered military defeat in the 1980s but has occasionally resurfaced since, the D'Antona killing being its most high profile attack.

Scajola said police tests revealed the gun used to kill Biagi was the same used to shoot D'Antona.

"The history of the Red Brigades show...there is a strong link between the murders of D'Antona and Biagi and the older terrorism," Scajola told RAI state television.

Berlusconi has called for a resumption of negotiations with unions and employers over the labour reform plans.

But Italy's main labour unions have decided to proceed with a plan for a general strike in protest at the reforms next month.

The day before his murder, Biagi wrote an editorial for leading economic daily Il Sole 24 Ore accusing the unions of being against European integration by opposing labour reform.