Bonisoli Franco

Franco Bonisoli was born in Reggio Emilia sixty years ago into a working-class, communist family. After the student and workers’ movements of the early 1970s, at 19 I joined the Red Brigades. I took part in the tragic kidnapping of Aldo Moro and in the killing of his bodyguards; I have always accepted responsibility for all the actions carried out by the organization.
Arrested at 23, I was sentenced to life imprisonment and held in maximum-security prisons. At 28, after a deep inner crisis, I broke away from the armed organization and rejected the logic of violence through a hunger strike, together with other comrades, in Nuoro prison.
A courageous and unexpected intervention by the prison chaplain, in defense of our human dignity as inmates, marked a positive turning point in that critical moment. From there, I was able to begin a process of rebuilding my life, seeking social justice through dialogue and the renunciation of violence.
In this new life, I have always wished to establish a relationship of human understanding with those who suffered deeply because of our actions. Today, within the Group, I am living and nurturing this great opportunity.