Argentine police authorities arrested an Italian in Buenos Aires on Thursday (29) who is believed to be one of the perpetrators of the kidnapping and murder of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.
According to information from CNN in Spanish, Italian Leonardo Bertulazzi, 65, was arrested after the refugee status he had held since 2004 was revoked by the Argentine Commission for Refugees.
Bertulazzi was a member of the Red Brigades, a communist terrorist group that operated in Italy between 1966 and 1988.
“Bertulazzi is responsible for crimes that undermined democratic values and the lives of many victims,” the Argentine government said in a statement.
“Among the group’s most high-profile crimes is the kidnapping and subsequent murder of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978. Bertulazzi, who held a high position within the organization, was involved in the logistics of Moro’s kidnapping,” he added.
Bertulazzi had been wanted by the Italian justice system since 1980 and had been sentenced in absentia to 27 years in prison for terrorism offences, according to a statement from the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He was also involved in the kidnapping of engineer Piero Costa in Genoa in 1977.
“The arrest of this fugitive member of the Red Brigades was possible thanks to the intense and fruitful collaboration between the Italian and Argentine judicial authorities and Interpol,” said Meloni’s office, which thanked Javier Milei’s administration.