Leonardo Bertulazzi detained in Argentina

Leonardo Bertulazzi, alleged former member of the Italian Red Brigades, was detained on August 29 by the Argentinian police in the Monserrat neighborhood, Buenos Aires. He was previously detained by the Buenos Aires’ police in 2002 but was released and his extradition was blocked. Leonardo Bertulazzi is a officially acknowledged political refugee in Argentina since 2004 and has a pending conviction by the Italian State of 27 years in prison. When this trial took place, he was not present and therefore was not able to defend himself. He was convicted ‘in absentia’. Among other things he is accused of being part of the “logistics of the Aldo Moro kidnapping”, former prime minister of Italy and leader of the bourgeois Party Christian Democracy. However, at that moment Bertulazzi was imprisoned convicted for two years.

The detention occurs after Javier Milei, president of Argentina, has revoked Bertulazzi’s status as a refugee, thus unblocking his detention and extradition. The president of Italy, Giorgia Meloni praised the Argentinian authorities and stated that this operation was carried out after an “intense” collaboration between both States and also by Interpol.

Despite the attempts from both States, Bertulazzi’s lawyer has appealed to the National Refugees Comission of Argentina (CONARE) to prevent the extradition. There have been other extradition attempts against other alleged members of the Red Brigades, from France, which were blocked at the courts.

The case of Bertulazzi has been triale for a long time at the Italian courts since in 2017 the Appeal Court of Genova (place of birth of Bertulazzi) ruled that his conviction was extinct as by the law could not be extended so long time. However, in 2018 the High Court of Italy rejected that and put the operatives against Bertulazzi back in function.