Ten ex terrorists Italians they have been living in Paris for years, protected by the so-called Mitterand doctrine. The Macron presidency has changed French policy towards them. This Tuesday the French Court of Cassation must decide on extradition of the 10 former Italian far-left terrorists.
What possible decisions
The Court could refer the dossier to a Court of Appeal, such as the one that has already denied extradition for the 10, or confirm the no. In the last hearing the general advocate of the Cassation had concluded for the rejection of the appeal of the Attorney General against the decision of the Court of Appeal.
The Attorney General had challenged the denial of extradition in June 2022. The 10 former Italian terrorists had been arrested inApril 2021 as part of Operation Red Shadows. Italy requested their extradition to France as they were convicted of acts of terrorism in the Piombo years, between the 1970s and early 1980s.
“The reasons for the appeal raised by the Attorney General have no foundation” according to Irène Terrel, lawyer for seven of the ten former Italian terrorists, whose words are reported by the newspaper The print. The refusal of extradition it was motivated by respect for private and family life and the right to a fair trial, guarantees provided for in articles 8 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Proceedings in absentia as envisaged in Italy would violate Article 6.
Who are the 10 former terrorists
There are six former militants of the Red Brigades and former members of Lotta Continua. The best known name is probably that of George Pietrostefani, one of the founders of Lotta Continua. He is 80 years old and has been ill for some time, he was sentenced to 22 years as one of the instigators of the murder of Commissioner Luigi Calabresi, on May 17, 1972. Originally from Abruzzo, he has held positions as a manager. The xx leader of Lotta Continua Adriano Sofri said he led “the discreet life of an old man and grandfather”. He also had a liver transplant.
Mario Calabresi, journalist and son of the commissioner, intervened last year at the time of the refusal of extradition. «If the French judges had said that Giorgio Pietrostefani is not compatible with prison because he is old and sick, I would have understood and respected. But the reasoning used is ridiculous because it is false: he was not judged in absentia, but he has always participated in all the trials ». And again: «You can change in life, these people will certainly have done it, and so you can become ex-terrorists, but one cannot think that time can erase the responsibility or the guilt of having taken the life of another man ».
Militant in Worker Autonomy, Raffaele Ventura71 years old, sentenced to 20 years for moral complicity in the murder of Deputy Brigadier Antonio Custra in Milan.
Luigi Bergamin, born in 1948, is a former militant of the Armed Proletarians for Communism (PAC). He must serve a 25-year sentence for subversive association, armed gang and complicity in murder.
Narcissus Manenti, born in 1957, is a former member of the Nuclei armed with a territorial counterpower. He faces a life sentence for the aggravated murder of the police officer Giuseppe Gurrieri, assassinated in Bergamo on 13 March 1979.
There are six former militants of the Red Brigades. John Alimonti, 68, is accused of the attempted murder of a deputy director of Digos. He has to serve 11 years for an armed gang and terrorist association. He worked as a waiter in a Paris restaurant, but he also worked as a translator.
Robert Hats, also 68 years old, has a life sentence for association with the purpose of terrorism, complicity in aggravated robbery, complicity in aggravated murder, attack on safety. In France you made yourself the support teacher for disabled children.
Marina Petrella she is now 69 years old and has been convicted of the murder of General Galvaligi. You work for an association that deals with issues related to the elderly. Married to Red Brigade member Luigi Novelli, she had a daughter in prison in Italy and a second from a new union after fleeing to France. The eldest daughter asked for an amnesty for her mother. In 2008 Nicolas Sarkozy stopped his extradition to Italy for humanitarian reasons.
The 65 year old Sergio Tornaghi was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Renato Briano, general manager of Ercole Marelli.
The 63-year-old Maurice DiMarzio must serve 5 years for the attempted kidnapping of the former Digos manager in Rome, Nicola Simone, and his name is also linked to the attack on the manager of the provincial employment office in Rome, Enzo Retrosi, in 1981.
Enzo Calvitti he is now 68 years old and must serve 18 years, 7 months and 25 days and 4 years of probation for the crimes of subversive association, armed gang, association for terrorist purposes, receiving weapons.
The Mitterand doctrine and Macron’s position
The former Italian terrorists have lived in France in a state of freedom thanks to what is referred to as Mitterrand doctrine. Not a law, but a practice introduced in the 1980s by the then French president François Mitterrand: there was freedom and security for the Italian citizens implicated in the events of the Years of Lead, but these people no longer had to have ties to the armed struggle.
The position of the current president of the French Republic is different Emmanuel Macron. “It is the respect we owe to the families of the victims and to the Italian nation”, said Macron who reiterated the “political will to support the request for extradition by the Italian government, in accordance with what has always been the policy of France, i.e. to refuse the extradition only of persons not implicated in blood crimes. In this case, the people we are talking about have been implicated in blood crimes and therefore deserve to be tried on Italian soil”.
Reactions from Italy
atAdnkronos, Cristian Iosa, son of Antonio Iosa, a former member of the DC who was shot in the knees by the Red Brigades in Milan on April 1, 1980, said: «I hope that the terrorists will be extradited and that justice will be done, not out of vengeful spirit but, precisely, spirit of justice, because these people have never repented”. On the other hand Paolo Persichetti, so far the only ex-terrorist extradited to Italy from France, always in theAdnkronos he said: «At a certain point, when there is an abnormal distance from the facts, punishment does not make sense, taking into account the fact that exile is not a walk in the park. It’s a precarious life, with a thousand problems, for which insertion then took decades».
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Source: Vanity Fair
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