Word: petrella
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...matter how French officials ultimately resolve the problem posed by Marina Petrella, it's certain to outrage someone. Sought by Italy for her 1992 conviction on charges of murder and kidnapping, the former Red Brigades terrorist was ordered free on bail by a French appeals court Tuesday over concerns about Petrella's perilous health. But with a government order for Petrella's extradition to Rome still pending, French authorities now face a harrowing decision: whether to hand over a convicted killer likely to die if her imprisonment continues; or release a woman with an irreproachable record during her 15 years...
...French appeals court ruling ordered Petrella free on bail at the request of prosecutors and government officials who'd previously taken a harder stand on her case. Their change of heart is perhaps understandable: since her arrest and incarceration a year ago, Petrella, 54, has fallen into a deep depression that doctors say has "caused her to lose the will to live". As a result, Petrella has largely been unable to eat, and has shed 20 percent of her body weight, now just 86 lbs. (39 kg). The gravity of her condition motivated French justice officials to seek Petrella...
...twist in Petrella's case is certain to raise suspicion in Rome that French officials are reverting to old habits in dealing with Italian fugitives, a source of tension for two decades. There's little disagreement over Petrella's acts as a member of the extreme-left Red Brigades, which battled Italian governments in the 1970s and 1980s in a campaign of assassination, kidnapping, and terror. In 1992 a Rome court convicted Petrella in absentia for her role in the 1981 murder of a police inspector and the kidnapping of a judge. The following year, Petrella fled to France...
...pressure and protest from Italy led ruling French conservatives to scrap the Mitterrand amnesty in 2002, thus leaving Petrella and scores of other repented Red Brigades militants in France vulnerable to arrest under outstanding Italian warrants. That's precisely what happened to Petrella in August, 2007 following a routine police road check; she's been in prison ever since...
...That fate provoked protest from French leftists and intellectuals who believe France had unilaterally and unfairly changed the rules on rehabilitated radicals. In recent weeks appeals for special consideration for Petrella have struck considerably close to home for French President Nicolas Sarkozy - and may have been partially responsible in altering the position of justice officials towards Petrella's case. In June, Sarkozy's Italian-born wife Carla Bruni told the daily Libération that Petrella "is ill, and should be cared for the way any human should. And prison isn't the ideal place for that". The following month...