- A French appeals court has denied Italy’s request to extradite ten former members of left-wing Italian extremist groups who were exiled in France.
- The Red Brigades and other armed groups wreaked havoc in Italy during the “Years of Lead” from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.
- The violence left 360 dead and thousands injured. Most of the 10, aged 61 to 78, have been living in France for decades.
A French appeals court On Wednesday denied Italy’s request to extradite ten former members of left-wing Italian extremist groups who were exiled in France for their involvement in violence decades ago.
The ultra-leftist Red Brigades and other armed groups wreaked havoc in Italy during the “Years of Lead” (referring to the number of bullets fired) from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.
The violence left 360 dead and thousands injured.
The court based its decision on respect for private and family life and the right to a fair trial, said the court’s chief judge.
Most of the 10, aged 61 to 78, have been living in France for decades and during the hearings insisted on their links to France and slammed Italy’s “persecution”.
The ruling was greeted with relief by the former members, who fell into the arms of relatives and loved ones in the courtroom.
“It’s the triumph of rights, humanity and justice,” said lawyer for seven former members, Irene Terrel.
“I’m really pleased for my client,” said lawyer Jean-Louis Chalanset, who represents former Red Brigades member Enzo Calvitti. “I was scared he would end his days in prison.”
France has long served as a haven for Red Brigades figures under a policy set by former Socialist president Francois Mitterrand, who offered them protection from extradition on the condition that they renounced violence and had not been accused of bloodshed.
But last year President Emmanuel Macron gave his green light for the detention and potential extradition of 10 sentenced former members of the Red Brigades or other armed groups, in a bid to remove a long-standing irritant in Franco-Italian ties.
“Sending me at 70 to die in prison would be a punishment from the dark ages,” said former Red Brigades member Marina Petrella, 67, before the ruling.
She said the procedures were “traumatic” for her two daughters and grandson after 30 years in France where she worked as a social worker.
“My life is in your hands because if I go back to Italy, I will die in an Italian prison,” said Narciso Manenti, 64, who has spent the last 40 years in France, also before the ruling.
The cases of the eight men and two women all differ. Some have been sentenced in Italy in their absence, while others have spent some time in Italian prisons and another group avoided time behind bars.
“In light of the age of these people, accepting extradition is a death penalty in disguise,” said Terrel in the run-up to the ruling.
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