ROME: A decision by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France not to extradite a former member of the Red Brigades, the group that terrorized Italy throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, has provoked outrage in Italy and stirred dormant tensions between the two countries. The decision also raised questions about the role played by the first lady of France, Carla Sarkozy, who had visited the former member, Marina Petrella, last week and personally assured her that she would not be extradited. Petrella was convicted of involvement in murder and other crimes in Italy, and in 1993 fled to France, where President François Mitterrand had a policy of granting asylum to leftist Italian militants if they renounced violence. But later French governments moved away from that policy, and Petrella was jailed in August 2007. Last August, she was released after her health deteriorated because of severe depression. She had stopped eating, her lawyer, Irène Terrel, said by telephone on Tuesday. "She just wanted to die," Terrel said.
ROME: A decision by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France not to extradite a former member of the Red Brigades, the group that terrorized Italy throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, has provoked outrage in Italy and stirred dormant tensions between the two countries.
The decision also raised questions about the role played by the first lady of France, Carla Sarkozy, who had visited the former member, Marina Petrella, last week and personally assured her that she would not be extradited.
Petrella was convicted of involvement in murder and other crimes in Italy, and in 1993 fled to France, where President François Mitterrand had a policy of granting asylum to leftist Italian militants if they renounced violence. But later French governments moved away from that policy, and Petrella was jailed in August 2007.
Last August, she was released after her health deteriorated because of severe depression. She had stopped eating, her lawyer, Irène Terrel, said by telephone on Tuesday. "She just wanted to die," Terrel said.
"Later government"??? It was a decision by Nicolas F$%$cking Sarkozy. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
What I deplore is that the Italian government, especially this one, actively shields rightwing terrorists now living abroad while pursuing only those on the left.
It is appropriate today that Gaetano Pecorella who was designated as a rightwing candidate to the highest judiciary office in Italy, La Consulta was denied support by the opposition because he is under investigation for having attempted to bribe a state witness in the trial against Delfo Zorzi for the fascist bombing of the Bank of Agriculture in 1969 that left a dozen dead.
Let's get the picture: Berlusconi's top lawyer at the time who doubled as head of the Commission for Constitutional Reform also held down a job as defendant of the notorious fascist terrorist Delfo Zorzi. While defending Zorzi he allegedly sought to bribe a key witness.
While Berlusconi's goons aid and abate fascist terrorists abroad his Minister of Justice Roberto Castelli actively sought the extradition of Battisti and Petrella.
You can buy Zorzi's clothes through any number of his high fashion stores. One's called "Oxus", or any variation thereof.
Petrella doesn't handle Gucci, Armani or whatever. She's just very sick.
