France arrests 7 ex-members of far-left Italian groups

PARIS

Upon Italy’s request, French authorities on Wednesday detained seven former members of Italian far-left extremist groups.

They were living in France under political asylum.

Police are still looking for three other members of the group who were not at home at the time of the arrest, a report in France 24 quoted a statement from the president’s office as saying.

Those arrested include members of the far-left group Red Brigades – Marina Petrella, Narciso Manenti, Roberta Capelli, and Sergio Tornaghi – who were sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy. The other members of the group are Enzo Calvitti and Giovanni Alimonti.

Another person arrested is Giorgio Pietrostefani, co-founder of another far-left group Lotta Continua, who was sentenced to 22 years for the 1972 killing of a police commissioner.

In 2008, President Nicolas Sarkozy opposed Petrella’s extradition authorized by the courts citing her state of health.

The group ran a reign of terror in the 1970s and early 1980s, known as Years of Lead, with acts of bank robberies, abduction, and murders including of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro.

Search is on to find Maurizio Di Marzio, Luigi Bergamin, and Raffaele Ventura.

The lawyer for five of the seven people, Irene Terrel, denounced the arrests as "unspeakable betrayal of France," France 24 reported.

The Italian authorities had requested for the extradition of 200 individuals, but the Elysee said the decision to detain 10 members was taken within the framework of the “Mitterrand doctrine”, a bilateral agreement signed between France and Italy.

The agreement offered political asylum and protection from extradition to those left-wing radical members who had renounced violence and were not accused of blood crimes. It has been a source of dispute between France and Italy for more than three decades as French courts refused to entertain requests for extradition.

"The president wanted to settle this subject, as Italy had been asking for years," the statement from Elysee said.

“France, itself affected by terrorism, understands the absolute need for justice for victims. It is also, through this transmission, part of the pressing need to build a Europe of justice, in which mutual trust must be at the center.”

Speaking to France Inter radio, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said it was up to the judiciary to decide whether the arrested members will be extradited to Italy or not.

The Italian government welcomed France's decision to initiate judicial procedures against those responsible for very serious terrorist crimes, a statement from Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said.

“The memory of those barbaric acts is alive in the conscience of the Italians.”