PARIS - Seven former members of the left-wing terrorists organisations of Italy’s ‘Years of Lead’ have been arrested in France, with French police still searching for three others.

  The Years of Lead lasted from roughly 1968-1988 and was a period of social and political chaos in Italy, marked by a series of terrorist acts by both far-right and far-left groups.

  It was announced on Wednesday morning by French government sources that the seven had been arrested, as part of a joint operation between Italian police and French antiterrorist forces.

  Among those arrested was Giorgio Petrostefani, a former member of Lotta Continua (Continuous Struggle) who was condemned to 14 years and two months imprisonment for his instigation of the murder of police officer Luigi Calabresi in 1972. After being convicted, however, he escaped to France.

  Also arrested were four who had been sentenced to life in Italy, Roberta Cappelli, Marina Petrella and Sergio Tornaghi, of the Red Brigade, and Narciso Manenti of the Armed Nuclei for Territorial Counterpower. The final two arrested were Giovanni Alimonti and Enzo Calvitti, of the Red Brigade, sentenced to 11 years and 18 years respectively.

  Luigi Bergamin, Maurizio Di Marzio and Raffaele Ventura are still on the run.

  The terrorists had all fled to France to take advantage of the Mitterand Doctrine, which decrees that France will not extradite any Italian terrorists unless they were actually accused of "active, actual, bloody terrorism.” Though in 2002 the doctrine was effectively repealed (and since then the French government haven’t denied Italy any requested extraditions) the French government made it clear that this decision was taken by Emmanuel Macron himself “strictly in line with the Mitterand doctrine” on the grounds that the accused were responsible for much violence and death.

  This latest push for justice was as a result of a meeting three weeks ago between Italian Justice Minister Marta Cartabia, and her French counterpart Eric Dupond-Moretti. Cartabia reiterated Italy’s “pressing request” for the condemned individuals, “so that the authors of the attacks of the Red Brigade can be brought to justice.” After the arrests, she praised France’s decision to “remove every obstacle to justice” for the “events that were a deep wound in Italian history.”

  Within 48 hours of the arrests the group will be brought before the Court of Appeals in Paris, where it will be decided whether they will be held or conditionally released while the extradition request is being examined.

  After the arrests, Mario Draghi said, “the government expresses satisfaction with France’s decision to start judicial procedures, as requested by Italy, regarding those responsible for the grave acts of terrorism that have still left an open wound. The memory of these barbaric acts is alive in the Italian conscience.”

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