Terrorism, former Br Di Marzio lawyer: “illegal European arrest warrant, new hearing 24/11”

The Paris Court of Appeal has set a new hearing for the former militant of the Red Brigades Maurizio Di Marzio who presented himself before the judge yesterday. The Defense, during the hearing, argued that the European arrest warrant against Di Marzio was an “illegal and inadmissible act” and raised the issue related to the statute of limitations “which took effect under Italian law on May 10” , asking, together with the Prosecutor’s Office, for “a further complement of information on the extradition procedure which is incomplete”. During the hearing, Di Marzio’s lawyer Irene Terrel explained to Adnkronos, “I stigmatized the fact that the European arrest warrant against Maurizio Di Marzio was illegal, null and void and inadmissible. The European warrant cannot but relate to events after 1993 while for Di Marzio they are events from 1981. And Italy knows it perfectly. To go faster, the Italian State has issued an illegal act. All this was evoked and stigmatized yesterday during the hearing “At the hearing Terrel also raised the question of limitation. “The statute of limitations to Di Marzio according to Italian law took effect on 10 May. The procedure advanced by Italy is an irregular procedure”, underlines the lawyer of the former militant of the BR who has yet to serve a residual sentence of 5 years and 9 months in prison for armed gang, subversive association, kidnapping and robbery. “We have difficulty believing this story of the prescriptions that fluctuate according to the ‘wishes’ of politics”, adds Terrel. “It is an irregular procedure: the sentence was extinguished but strangely on 11 May Italy did not withdraw the extradition request as it should have done and then announced that it was extended. The extension was filed on 8 July and on July 9, the European warrant procedure was initiated to be able to proceed with Di Marzio’s arrest “, which was then carried out on July 19.” I had proposed to Di Marzio to appear in order to reduce the time. It is an irregular procedure. We are in a grotesque situation “, reiterates Terrel. “Together with the Prosecutor – the lawyer continues – we asked for additional information given the lack of the dossier sent by Italy and also further information related to the matter of the prescription that is not complete: the decision, the text of the law is missing. It really seems like a caricature. “As for the other 9 former Italian terrorists, the Defense, in particular, claims that article 12 of the European extradition convention signed in Paris on 13 December 1957 has been violated and which specifically provides for the ‘original or certified copy of both the executive sentence and the arrest warrant or any other act having the same effect, issued in the forms prescribed by law by the requesting party; a statement of the facts for which extradition is requested; the time and place of their consumption; their legal qualification and the references to the legal provisions applicable to them to be indicated as accurately as possible; a copy of the applicable legal provisions or, if this is not possible, a declaration on the applicable rules, as well as the most exact reporting data and any other information capable of determining his identity and nationality Di Marzio, 61, from Molise , was active in the Roman column of the Br. He had already been stopped in August 1994 in France, again at the request of Italy, and the following year, the Court of Appeal expressed a favorable opinion on the extradition but the government decree did not it was never signed under the Mitterrand Doctrine. His name is linked in particular to the attack on the manager of the provincial employment office in Rome, Enzo Retrosi, in 1981, and to the attempted kidnapping of the prefect Nicola Simone, at the time deputy head of Digos in the capital. Court rejected the question of constitutional legitimacy put forward by the defenses and decided to postpone the hearing for 7 other former Italian terrorists (the former militant of the armed proletarians Luca Bergamin, the former Br Giovanni Alimonti, the former militant of Autonomia Operaia Raffaele Ventura, the former militants of the Red Brigades Roberta Cappelli and Marina Petrella, the former member of the organization of the armed counter-territorial units Narciso Manenti and the former Brigadier Enzo Calvitti). The Court asked Italy for a further complement of information on extradition requests. The Court gave Italy until 5 December to submit the requested additional information. For Giorgio Pietrostefani, the former Lotta Continua militant, who is not feeling well, there will be a hearing on 5 January next. Terrel is the French lawyer for seven of the ten former militants arrested in France: Giorgio Pietrostefani, Roberta Cappelli, Marina Petrella, Narciso Manenti, Luca Bergamin, Giovanni Alimonti and Maurizio Di Marzio.