Alvaro Lojacono (born 7 May 1955) is an Italian

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

, currently a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

citizen.

Biography

Lojacono was born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, the son of a member of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

. He participated in several far-left extra-parliamentary organizations in Rome, including

Potere Operaio Potere Operaio ("Workers' Power") was a radical left-wing Italian political group, active between 1967 and 1973. (It shouldn't be confused with "Potere Operaio Pisano" which was one of the components of a competing revolutionary group, Lotta Conti ...

, and then became a member of the

Red Brigades The Red Brigades ( it, Brigate Rosse , often abbreviated BR) was a far-left Marxist–Leninist armed organization operating as a terrorist and guerrilla group based in Italy responsible for numerous violent incidents, including the abduction ...

. He was accused of the murder of Greek student

Mikis Mantakas Mikis Mandakas ( el, Μίκης Μάντακας; June 13, 1952 – February 28, 1975) was a Greek nationalist student who was murdered by far-left activists in Italy during the Years of Lead. Biography Mikis Mandakas was born in Athens, ...

(28 February 1975) in front of a seat of the

Italian Social Movement The Italian Social Movement ( it, Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national ...

(a post-Fascist party) and sentenced ''in absentia'' to 16 years of detention. After his admission to the Red Brigades, he was involved in the murder of judges (14 February 1978) and , and he also allegedly participated in the assassination of Aldo Moro's escort. Thanks to the Swiss citizenship of his mother, he emigrated to Switzerland where he was sentenced to 17 years of imprisonment, being freed after 11 years. He was also acquitted from any prosecution for the Moro case, because the witnesses refused to speak in front of the Swiss magistrates. In the fourth Italian trial on the Moro affair, he was sentenced to life imprisonment (sentence confirmed on 14 May 1997)."Le Sentenze del Processo Moro".
In June 2000 he was arrested in

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

. He however avoided the extradition to Italy because French law does not recognize default sentences; further, Swiss law does not allow extradition for its citizens.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lojacono, Alvaro 1955 births Living people Criminals from Rome Red Brigades Italian emigrants to Switzerland Potere Operaio Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges Italian exiles