A ۷۴-year-old former member of Italy’s radical Marxist group the Red Brigades has escaped from house arrest in Argentina, the country’s security ministry confirmed on Wednesday, after he reportedly hid his ankle monitor inside a tube of pork and lowered himself from a fifth-floor balcony.
Authorities placed Leonardo Bertulazzi under house arrest in Buenos Aires in ۲۰۲۴, prior to his extradition to Italy to serve a ۲۷-year prison sentence. He had received the sentence in ۱۹۸۷ for joining a subversive association and belonging to an armed group.
After years on the run, Bertulazzi was first arrested by Argentine authorities in ۲۰۰۲. He was freed a few months later and secured refugee status in ۲۰۰۴, but was arrested again in ۲۰۲۴ after it was revoked.
On Wednesday, Argentina’s security ministry offered a $۱۳,۰۰۰ reward for information leading to Bertulazzi’s recapture after he slipped out of detention.
The fugitive held a senior position in the Red Brigades, a radical Marxist organization responsible for attacks from ۱۹۶۹ to ۱۹۸۰, dubbed Italy’s “Years of Lead”. The group most notoriously kidnapped and assassinated former prime minister Aldo Moro in ۱۹۷۸.
Security footage showed Bertulazzi dropping from a building into a public road as cars drove past.
A detective tracking the former member of the Red Brigades reportedly told La Nación that Bertulazzi rappelled down from the fifth floor using a harness.
“First, he removed his electronic ankle monitor and placed it in a tube filled with pork, along with a blood pressure monitor to maintain the temperature. He then climbed on to a roof and, using a rope, lowered himself five meters until he jumped onto a vacant lot behind the building where he lived, and then scaled a metal gate to reach the street,” the detective said, according to the publication.
The footage, which indicated the time was ۶.۰۱am on ۱۰ November, showed a possibly shaken Bertulazzi sitting down to rest for a few moments.
Police noticed his ankle monitor had stopped transmitting movement data and headed to the house, where they found the device discarded and Bertulazzi nowhere to be found.
Argentina approved his extradition to Italy in July ۲۰۲۵ after the country’s supreme court rejected a final appeal.
