Ex-Red Brigades woman ordered to Italy

A French appeals court has ordered the extradition to Italy of a former member of Italy's Red Brigades terrorist group.

A French appeals court has ordered the extradition to Italy of a former member of Italy's Red Brigades terrorist group.

The court in Versailles gave the green light for the extradition of Marina Petrella. Petrella, in French custody since August, can still appeal to France's highest court.

She had been living in France for several years before her arrest. In 1992, an Italian court sentenced her in absentia to life in prison on charges including murder and kidnapping. Another ruling a year later confirmed the sentence.

The left-wing Red Brigades plagued Italy with attacks in the 1970s and 1980s. Its most notorious attack was the 1978 kidnapping and killing of former premier Aldo Moro.

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After about a decade of silence, an offshoot of the group reappeared, killing two government advisers in 1999 and 2002.

During the 1970s and 1980s, many Italian left-wing militants fled their country to settle in France, benefiting from a policy started in 1985 under former Socialist president Francois Mitterrand that allowed them to stay if they renounced their extremist past.

In the last several years, France's conservative leaders have moved away from Mr Mitterrand's policy.