A Bologna civil court on Wednesday ordered Valerio Giuseppe Fioravanti and Francesca Mambro, former members of the NAR neo-fascist terrorist group who were convicted of the 1980 Bologna train station bombing, to pay over two billion euros in damages to central government. The Bologna massacre, which took place on August 2, 1980, claimed 85 lives and more than 200 people were wounded. It was one of the worst atrocities of Italy's so-called years of lead of political violence in the 1970s and 1980s. Fioravanti and Mambro, a married couple, are free after serving long jail terms.
The court ordered them to pay the interior ministry and the premier's department 2.134273 billion euros. "The gravity of that act is without precedent in Italian history," wrote the judges who awarded the damages.
"After 34 years, it is possible to say that this event had made an indelible impression on the nation's collective conscience - authentic permanent damage". A group representing victims welcomed the ruling.
"It's wonderful news," said Paolo Bolognesi of the Vittime 2 Agosto association. "If nothing else, the Bologna massacre will remain as an indelible, constant strain for them and their heirs, including from an economic point of view".
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