Former Italian Red Brigades member escapes house arrest in Argentina while awaiting extradition

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A 74-year-old Italian convicted of terrorism-related crimes for his involvement in a far-left militant group escaped house arrest in Buenos Aires by descending from a fifth-floor apartment using a harness and rope, prompting a nationwide search as he awaited extradition to Italy.

Leonardo Bertulazzi , a former member of Italy’s Red Brigades, was under house arrest after Argentina’s Supreme Court approved his extradition last year to serve a 27-year prison sentence in Italy.

Bertulazzi used ropes and a harness to descend from the fifth floor onto the second-floor terrace of a neighboring house Tuesday, police officials told The Associated Press. From there, he climbed down to a first-floor terrace, made his way to a vacant lot and escaped onto the street by climbing over a gate. He remained on the run on Wednesday.

Authorities did not immediately detect his escape after he tampered with his electronic ankle monitor. The police officials said that Bertulazzi placed the monitor inside a device containing a thermal blanket to maintain its temperature, along with grease or animal fat apparently intended to keep moisture.

Police also confirmed that explosives specialists were sent to the apartment to examine the device, which had been made to resemble an explosive.

According to Argentine court records, Bertulazzi was convicted by Italian courts in the 1980s of terrorism-related crimes, resulting in a combined 27-year prison sentence.

Bertulazzi belonged to the Genoa branch of the Red Brigades, a far-left militant organization responsible for a wave of kidnappings and killings in Italy during the 1970s and 1980s. The group kidnapped and murdered former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978, one of the group’s most notorious attacks. Argentine authorities have said Bertulazzi was involved in the logistics of Moro’s kidnapping.

Argentina’s Security Ministry offered a reward of 20 million pesos (about $13,000) on Tuesday for information leading to Bertulazzi’s capture.

On Tuesday, Wanda Ferro, an undersecretary in Italy’s Interior Ministry, said Argentine police were responsible for ensuring Bertulazzi was handed over to Italian authorities.

“I am certain that every effort will be made and that there will be appropriate dialogue to ensure — we hope — that he is brought back into custody and, above all, that extradition can take place very quickly if he is recaptured,” she told private broadcaster Tgcom24.

Argentine authorities first arrested Bertulazzi in November 2002 on an arrest warrant issued by Italian authorities. Italy formally requested his extradition the following month, but an Argentine federal judge rejected the request in June 2003, ruling that Italian law did not guarantee Bertulazzi a new trial after he had been convicted in absentia. Bertulazzi was granted refugee status in October 2004. In 2024, when right-wing President Javier Milei took office, Argentine authorities revoked that status and re-arrested him in August.

At the time, then-Security Minister Patricia Bullrich celebrated his capture.

“This dangerous criminal’s years of impunity are over. In this Argentina led by President Milei, those who commit crimes pay the price,” she wrote on social media.

——-

AP Reporter Colleen Barry contributed to this report from Milan, Italy.