France backs Red Brigades extradition

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has authorised the extradition to Italy of a former member of the far-left Red Brigades…

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has authorised the extradition to Italy of a former member of the far-left Red Brigades movement, the justice ministry said.

Marina Petrella was convicted by an Italian court in 1992 of offences including murder, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and armed robbery.

She has a month to appeal to the State Council, France's top administrative law body.

The Red Brigades carried out a campaign of violence in the 1970s that culminated in the kidnapping and murder of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.

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Many former members took refuge in France where former Socialist president Francois Mitterrand refused to extradite left-wing radicals who renounced violence.

Petrella had started a new life in France with her partner, with whom she had a child.