A former member of the Red Brigades installed in France since the 1990s was arrested Monday at the request of the Italian authorities who claim him on the basis of a conviction for an attempted terrorist kidnapping in 1982, we learned on Monday from judicial sources and close to the case.

Maurizio di Marzio, 61, was the only one to have escaped the execution at the end of April of the arrest warrants issued by Italy against ten former far-left activists.

All are claimed by Rome for having been condemned for their involvement, which many contest, in the attacks committed in their country during the years 1970-80, nicknamed "the years of lead".

A historic turn

The execution of these warrants against Italians who have rebuilt their lives in France, sometimes for more than thirty years, constituted a historic turn in relations between the two countries, widely hailed outside the Alps but more discussed in France. .

On April 28, seven of them were arrested at their homes and three others presented themselves to justice the next day.

Maurizio di Marzio, whose validity of the arrest warrant expired on May 10, fled before the crackdown, announced a few days earlier in the Italian press.

According to sources close to the case, he was no longer actively wanted by the French authorities.

Placed in judicial detention

But on July 8, the Rome appeals court ruled that the warrant was ultimately not time-barred, the sources said.

The former brigadier was placed in judicial detention on Monday and must be presented within 48 hours to the Paris Court of Appeal, which must decide on his possible pre-trial detention or release under judicial supervision, the time of the procedure.

Maurizio di Marzio is claimed by his country for the execution of the remainder - five years and nine months - of a sentence of 14 years of imprisonment, in particular for his role in the attempted kidnapping in 1982 of a vice-prefect of police of Rome, Nicola Simone, seriously injured in the attack.

" I changed "

"I did a lot of stupid things and I wouldn't do them again, but I changed", he had declared a few years ago to the Italian magazine Panorama.

“I have already spent six years in prison.

I never killed anyone, ”added the restaurateur, at the head of an Italian tavern in Paris, saying he was“ persecuted ”by the authorities of his country.

He was arrested in 1994 in Paris but the extradition procedure had not been completed.

The other nine former activists, seven men and two women aged 63 to 77, were released at the end of April.

They appeared in June before the Paris Court of Appeal, responsible for examining the validity of extradition requests.

The court must say on September 29 whether or not it requests additional information from the Italian authorities on these requests, described as “political revenge” by the defense and crushed by the Advocate General for their shortcomings.

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  • Terrorism

  • Red Brigades

  • Justice

  • Italy

  • Society