Raffaele Ventura, a former member of the Communist Combatant Formations, who was convicted of moral complicity in the 1977 murder of vice-brigadier Antonio Custra in Milan, can return to Italy as a free man.

He has been living in France for over 40 years and with the operation "ombre rosse", in agreement between Italian and French authorities, he should have returned to Italy, like nine other former "red" terrorists, to serve the sentence that was never carried out, but the judges in Paris denied extradition. And today the European arrest warrant that was pending against him was also cancelled. This is the effect of the provision of the Court of Assizes of Appeal of Milan which declared the sentence extinguished for the 75-year-old due to "the passage of time", accepting the request of the lawyer Davide Steccanella and with the favorable opinion of the Attorney General.

"The 10 hunted in France have become nine. Ventura, convicted for the shooting in via de Amicis in Milan on May 14, 1977 and a refugee in France since 1981, will now be able to return," commented his lawyer.

Ventura, that day 47 years ago, was responsible for the security service of a collective and among the militants of the extra-parliamentary left who demonstrated in Milan after the murder of the student Giorgiana Masi in Rome. The 75-year-old was convicted of the murder of Custra as a "moral" competitor, while the material perpetrator was Mario Ferrandi. Of that day, the photo of a young man in the street, with his arms outstretched, holding a gun remained iconic for all the years of lead.

(Unioneonline/D)

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