To bring the Red terrorists who took refuge in France back to Italy. This is the meaning of the motion signed for the first time by Tommaso Foti, leader of the Italian Brothers group, in the Chamber. On March 28 of this year, the French Court of Cassation decided to definitively reject the request, dated January 2020, by the Italian government for the extradition of ten militants of the armed struggle who had taken refuge in France and were arrested in April 2021.
The Court rejected the appeal of Attorney General Remy Heitz against the «no» already pronounced on June 29, 2022 by the court of appeals, despite the common desire of the Italian and French governments to obtain justice for the victims of the terrorist actions perpetrated by those stuck . The decision of the Court of Cassation took place after the negative opinion, dated February 7, 2023, of the attorney general of the same court, Xavier Tarabeaux, who had advised the rejection of the appeal of the prosecutor Heitz. It is no coincidence that on March 26, 2023, the French Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond Moretti, defined the terrorists as “murderers” awaiting their extradition. With this motion, Italy asks the government to “provide all necessary legal assistance to the next of kin of victims of crimes committed by former terrorists, in their appeal before the European Court of Human Rights against the decision of the French Court of Cassation”.
Among the ten militants is Giorgio Pietrostefani, founder along with Adriano Sofri of Lotta Continua, convicted of instigating the murder of Commissioner Luigi Calabresi. Marina Petrella, belonging to the Red Brigades, convicted of the murder of General Galvaligi, as well as the kidnapping of Judge Giovanni D’Urso and the regional councilor of the Christian Democrats Ciro Cirillo. Roberta Cappelli, of the Red Brigades, also convicted of the murder of General Galvaligi, police officer Michele Granato and deputy commissioner SebastianoTo win. Giovanni Alimonti, of the Red Brigades, convicted of the attempted murder of Digos deputy director Nicola Simone. Enzo Calvitti, from the Red Brigades, sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison for associating with terrorists and armed gangs.
Maurizio Di Marzio, of the Roman column of the red brigades, whose name is linked to the attack on the director of Rome’s provincial employment office, Enzo Retrosi, in 1981 and the attempted kidnapping of the deputy head of the Digos in the capital Nicola Simone on the day of epiphany of 1982. Sergio Tornaghi, member of the Milanese column “Walter Alasia”, sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Renato Briano, director general of “Ercole Marelli”. Narciso Manenti, from the proletarian guerrilla, sentenced in 1983 to life imprisonment for the murder of the policeman Giuseppe Gurrieri, killed in front of his 14-year-old son in a doctor’s office where he had broken into to kidnap a doctor who worked in the Bergamo prison. Luigi Bergamin, of the proletarians armed by communism, sentenced to 16 years and 11 months in prison for ordering the murder of Marshal Antonio Santoro, head of the prison police, killed in Udine on June 6, 1978 by Cesare Battisti.
Raffaele Ventura, from the communist struggle formations, sentenced to 20 years in prison for moral collusion in the murder of Deputy Brigadier Antonio Custra, which took place on May 14, 1977, during a demonstration of the extra-parliamentary left in Milan. According to the French Constitutional Court, the fact that some of the ten former terrorists were convicted in absentia decades ago and would not benefit from a new trial if they were extradited to Italy is a valid reason not to extradite them. According to the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, the new lives that the ten former terrorists created in France with everything that concerns their current professions and families would not be respected, “taking into account the seriousness of the disputed facts “. The position of the Italian government is that the lapse of time that has elapsed can only be attributed to a distorted interpretation of the so-called “Mitterand doctrine” which dates back to the 1980s. The then President of the French Republic François Mitterand had offered refuge to the former Italian terrorists, but on condition that they were not guilty of serious bloodshed: a condition which the ten “refugees” failed to fulfill. The “Mitterand doctrine” aimed to grant the extradition of persons accused, convicted or wanted for “acts of a violent nature, but politically inspired” against any State, as long as they were not directed against the French State, effectively granting the right of asylum to any foreigners .
Source: IL Tempo

Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.