Mitterrand doctrine

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The Mitterrand doctrine ("Doctrine Mitterrand") was a policy established in 1985 by French president François Mitterrand concerning Italian refugees in France. It stated that far-left activists who had been convicted for violent acts in Italy, but excluding "active, actual, bloody terrorism" , during the "Years of Lead," would not be extradited to Italy. Mitterrand based this oral promise, which was upheld until the 2000s by France, on the non-conformity of Italian legislation with European standards. The French president targeted in particular the anti-terrorist laws passed in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s, which created the pentito status and prohibited people judged in absentia from being granted another trial if extradited — a right upheld by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The policy was effectively repelled in 2002.

1 History
2 Notes and references
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

The "Mitterrand doctrine" was defined during a speech at the Palais des sports in Rennes on the February 1st, 1985. Miterrand excluded from this protection "active, actual, bloody terrorism". On April 21, 1985, at the 65th Congress of the Human Rights League (LDH), he declared that Italian refugees and former militants who had broken with their violent past would be protected from extradition to Italy:

"Italian refugees (...) who have taken part in terrorist action before 1981 (...) have broken links with the infernal machine to which they participated, have taken on a second phase of their lifes, have assimilated in French society (...) I told the Italian government that they were safe from any sanction by the means of extradition". ^[1]

This statement was an important source of inspiration for French justice when it came to extradiction of far-left Italian terrorists or activists. According to a 2007 article by the Corriere della Sera, Mitterrand would have been convinced by the Abbé Pierre to grant this protection to Italian refugees ^[2]. According to Cesare Battisti's lawyers, Mitterrand had given his word in concertation with the Italian Premier, Bettino Craxi ^[3].

In 2002, Paris extradited Paolo Persichetti, an ex-member of the Red Brigades (BR) who had turned to teaching sociology at university, breaking for the first time with Mitterrand's word. However, in 1998, Bordeaux's appeal court had judged that Sergio Tornaghi could not be extradited to Italy, on the grounds that Italian procedure would not organise a second trial after the first, in absentia, trial. These extraditions in the 2000s overreached the sole case of the BR, with other, leftist activists who had exiled themselves to France being researched by Italian justice. These have included the Adriano Sofri case, Antonio Negri's willfull return to Italy and surrender to the justice, etc.

In 2004, the extradition of Cesare Battisti was authorised by French justice. Battisti had been sentenced for two murders and complicity of murders in a trial which was heavily criticised in French media and public opinion.

[edit] Notes and references

^ Les réfugiés italiens (...) qui ont participé à l'action terroriste avant 1981 (...) ont rompu avec la machine infernale dans laquelle ils s'étaient engagés, ont abordé une deuxième phase de leur propre vie, se sont inséré dans la société française (...). J'ai dit au gouvernement italien qu'ils étaient à l'abri de toute sanction par voie d'extradition (...).
^ Abbé Pierre, il frate ribelle che scelse gli emarginati, Corriere della Sera, January 23, 2007 (Italian)
^ See DROITS ACQUIS DROITS DENIES, on Parole donnée