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France To Release Red Brigade Terrorist
Disappointing news for anyone who thought that France, under Nicolas Sarkozy, might take a tougher line on terrorism. Yesterday, a Versailles court ruled that ailing Red Brigades terrorist Marina Petrella should be freed from prison because of her deteriorating health.
The Guardian reports that Petrella is suffering from depression and is "refusing to eat." It adds that the court's ruling will allow her to be treated as a free woman; her lawyer says that she will now "rebuild her life" with her two daughters.
The terrorist was arrested in a suburb of Paris last year. Italy, which convicted her in absentia of charges including complicity in murder, has demanded her extradition, where she faces life imprisonment. Prominent French intellectuals and cultural figure, including the President's wife Carla Bruni and her sister Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, have called for Nicolas Sarkozy to intervene to prevent her extradition.
Sarkozy has reportedly said that he would not halt the extradition, but would attempt to secure a pardon for Petrella before any transfer took place. Italy's government, under Silvio Berlusconi, has made no indication that any such pardon would be forthcoming. Indeed, there is reason to believe that a pardon for the terrible crimes committed during Italy's "years of lead" would be unpopular with voters, not least as the government is in the midst of a repressive crackdown on much less serious crime committed by gypsies and immigrants.
The families of those killed by Petrilla's Red Brigades continue to receive sympathetic treatment in the Italian press: Their spokesmen have made it clear that they would oppose any pardon. A year ago, Italians were outraged by remarks made by French actress Fanny Ardent praising multiple killer Renato Curcio for his "passionate" beliefs. Victims of the terrorist threatened lawsuits, while politicians on right and left criticised the actress.
Hundreds of left-wing Italian "militants" fled across the border into France in the 1980s when the security forces began to get the upper hand over the Red Brigades. In 1985 France's President François Mitterrand granted an amnesty to the terrorists, provided they stayed out of political life.
Supporters of the terrorists on the French side of the border argue that the trials held in absentia throughout the 1980s and 90s produced unsafe convictions. However, both left and right wing governments have called for France to end its terrorist sanctuary.
One of the conditions of Petrella's release is that she remain in France and check in with police once a week.
This is hardly reassuring. Another convicted terrorist, triple murderer turned crime writer Cesare Battisti, was housed in France under similar conditions. He, too, enjoyed the protection of cultural figures stimulated by the romance of left-wing violence. He too had friends and supporters worried about his "mental state." In 2004, shortly after a French court ordered he return to Italy to face the music, he jumped custody.
He was eventually tracked down to Brazil - it is anyone's guess how he got there, though he was said to have moved through a series of safe houses while a fugitive.
Is there any reason to believe that Petrella won't do the same thing, given the chance? French Socialists have made a select group of Italian terrorists above the law, either in their own nation or in France. Italian victims and Italy's justice system are regularly demeaned by the supporters of these killers, who include prominent figures like former Presidential candidate François Bayrou and Socialist Party Secretary François Hollande. Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanöe, viewed by many as a plausible Socialist candidate for President, wanted to give Battisti the freedom of the city.
How can these people call for closer European integration while refusing to take seriously the crimes of those who killed hundreds of people? There are a further dozen Red Brigade members who Italy wants returned for trial. Will they play the illness card too?
The Italians are often urged to put aside the past - to grow up, in other words. However, it's France's leftists, with their Romantic attachment to the bloodiest murderers in recent history, provided that they are on the left, who need to grow up. As Figaro reporter Guillaume Perrault said at the time of the Battisti extradition trial, "The Italian left isn't at all fascinated by violence. It has completely abandoned this vision. That hasn't been the case for a certain element of the French left.... it is easy to mystify things we didn't have to live through. French intellectuals are always searching for revolution by procuration: Cuba was in fashion, Maoist China too. Battisti plays that role too. The fascination for violence remains intact for some people."
