Again the Fear: "Moro Killed?'

A grim Red Brigades'communique continues the terror We therefore conclude the battle begun on March 16 by carrying out the verdict to which Aldo Moro was condemned."

That chilling statement at the end of the Red Brigades' "Communique No. 9" hit Rome like a thunderclap. Premier Giulio Andreotti interrupted a meeting with government economic experts to confer with Interior Minister Francesco Cossiga. Benigno Zaccagnini, secretary of the Christian Democratic Party, delayed a projected campaign trip for the May 14 local elections and rushed to the party headquarters in the Piazza del Gesu. In the Senate, where a debate on a bill to legalize abortion had just ended, Senators milled around in the corridors asking for the latest news. The President of the Senate, Amintore Fanfani, drove to the home of the kidnaped politician, where Eleonora Moro has been living in virtual seclusion since her husband's abduction. The afternoon paper, Paese Sera, rushed out an extra edition with the black banner headline: MORO KILLED?

But there was no immediate answer to that question. The Red Brigades' message, retrieved by reporters from trash baskets in four cities after telephone calls, was found only a few hours after Italy's National Security Council rejected a proposal by Socialist Leader Bettino Craxi to grant amnesty to some minor terrorist prisoners as a concession to Moro's captors. The terrorists' rambling, two-page communique argued that by rejecting the exchange of 13 of their colleagues in prison, the Christian Democrats had left them with no alternative but to carry out their death sentence on Moro.

Written as it was in the present tense, the terrorists' terse concluding statement about "carrying out the verdict" seemed open to different interpretations. Had the Red Brigades really killed Aldo Moro? If so, where had the execution taken place and what had they done with his body? Communique No. 9 gave no details. Many politicians shared the view of Justice Minister Paolo Bonifacio: "I consider the terrorist communique authentic. But I don't believe the final sentence. I think it more probable that it's a terrorist gambit to heighten the tension in the country." Indeed, three weeks before, a message, later disavowed by the Red Brigades but still believed to be authentic, said that Moro had been killed and his body dumped in a mountain lake. It proved to be false.

The week began with the receipt of no less than eight new handwritten letters from the former Premier. They were addressed to Italy's top political figures, including Andreotti, Fanfani, Craxi, President Giovanni Leone and Chamber of Deputies President Pietro Ingrao. The blizzard of Moro appeals promptly raised a new mystery: was his family, like those of so many Italian kidnap victims, secretly in touch with the kidnapers? Spokesmen said no. But the letters, like some in the past, were delivered in as yet undisclosed fashion to the family and members of Moro's staff, who then passed them on to the addressees. Moro's three closest aides were called in for questioning.

In the letters, Moro appealed to each recipient to back an exchange of political prisoners. "Believe me, there is not a single minute to lose," said a letter to Craxi. Moro's pleas were followed by a bitter public denunciation of the party by his family, who issued a statement saying the party leadership's "immobility and refusal of all initiatives ratify the death sentence. To avoid a long season of sorrow and death it is useless to deny the hard reality: one must instead confront it with clear courage."

Said the Christian Democratic daily Il Popolo of the party's dilemma: "A diabolical blade has been inserted at a point where affections and responsibility meet and become intertwined." But, added the paper, "for a desire to be authentic it needs as an essential condition the freedom of whoever is expressing it." Moro's family insists, however, that he is not acting under coercion, or at least does not show the mental debilitation that some have claimed.

After consultations with its political partners, the party somewhat softened its stand in midweek. Christian Democratic leaders suggested that in the event of Moro's release, the government would "find some form of generosity and clemency." That said, they tossed the ball to the government, which once again announced its intention to stand firm. And then came Communique No. 9.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.