Red Brigades woman kills herself

Melazzi was convicted for murdering a government adviser in 2002

A convicted member of the radical left-wing Red Brigades group has killed herself in a Rome jail, officials say.

Diana Blefari Melazzi, 43, was found hanged in her cell in Rebibbia prison.

She was serving a life sentence for the murder of an Italian government adviser on labour reform in 2002. An inquiry into her death is now under way.

Melazzi's lawyer said her client had serious psychiatric problems and had petitioned the courts for years to have her transferred to hospital.

Melazzi hanged herself with her bedsheet and was found in her cell late on Saturday, Italy's Ansa news agency reported.

Justice Minister Angelino Alfano ordered an investigation into her death, which happened soon after Italy's highest court had upheld her sentence.

Prison unions have raised concerns about the state of Italian jails, saying the Rebibbia women's prison where Melazzi was held in isolation was seriously understaffed.

Melazzi and four other members of the Red Brigades were convicted in 2005 for murdering government consultant Marco Biagi in Bologna.

Responsibility for Marco Biagi's murder was claimed by the Red Brigades-Combatant Communist Party - an offshoot of the radical group that carried out a spate of attacks in Italy in the 1970s-80s.