A former member of the Red Brigades, Marina Petrella was convicted in absentia in 1992, and sentenced to life in prison. An Italian court found her guilty of the murder of a police chief in Rome in 1981, and the kidnapping of a magistrate. She was arrested in December 1982 and gave birth to her first daughter in prison a year later. In 1986, however, after being granted bail, she fled to France. Like other fugitive far-left activists, she benefited from a policy of former French president Francois Mitterand. In 1985, the president said he would not extradite former terrorists who have renounced violence. With this promise, numerous fugutives, including the writer Cesare Battisti, were able to start new lives in France. They had no fears about arrest until 2002, when the Italian government accused Paris of protecting...
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