Former Red Brigades member Leonardo Bertulazzi escapes house arrest in Buenos Aires

The escape from house arrest

Leonardo Bertulazzi, 74, a former member of the Red Brigades, fled the house arrest he was serving in Buenos Aires, according to reports published on 10 November. Argentina's Directorate General of Criminal Intelligence issued an urgent alert for his capture, and authorities in every jurisdiction were told to look for him. Reports place the flat he was confined to on Via Defensa, in the San Telmo district of central Buenos Aires. The escape came after Argentina's Supreme Court revoked his refugee status, and the orders stress that authorities weighed his dangerousness and criminal record. Anyone who finds him or obtains reliable information about where he lives must inform the competent court immediately.

A 1977 kidnapping and a long hunt

Bertulazzi was definitively sentenced to 27 years for armed band and for the 1977 kidnapping of a Genoese industrialist. Reports say he went into hiding in 1980 and was later arrested in Argentina, although the sources give different years for that arrest, 2002 and 2024. In 2025 the Argentine Supreme Court approved his extradition to Italy. He was released to house arrest in August 2025 because of his age and heart and vision problems, and he was supposed to be watched around the clock by a Federal Police patrol while wearing an electronic tag.

The lawyer's account of health and appeal

Rodolfo Yanzon confirmed the escape to the news agency ANSA. He said the final appeal against extradition, filed on health grounds, had been rejected, and that Interpol was ready to take Bertulazzi to Italy. Yanzon argued that Argentine law bars a transfer when a person's health does not allow it, and that extradition can be suspended on that ground. He said Bertulazzi had suffered three strokes during the proceedings, and that his last check at the epilepsy centre of the Ramón Mejía hospital, on Friday, 6 November, had prescribed a two-month course of treatment. An electroencephalogram had been set for 27 November. Yanzon said he had told his client about this situation, that the decision to flee was Bertulazzi's own, and that he welcomed it, while criticising how judge Maria Servini de Cubria had handled the case.

Italian government response

Wanda Ferro, undersecretary for the Interior, told Tgcom24 that Italy's task was to deal with the Argentine authorities. She placed responsibility on the Argentine police.

“There is a responsibility on the part of the Argentine police, who were supposed to guarantee surveillance and the handover to the Italian authorities.”

Ferro said she was confident the matter would be pursued to the end, and she hoped that extradition could happen very quickly if he is recaptured.

What happens next

As the reports stand, Bertulazzi remains at large and Argentine authorities are searching across the country. The alert asks anyone who spots him to inform the police with his location. Ferro expects a proper exchange between the two governments, and the extradition request is still in progress according to one report. The next known date in the medical file is the electroencephalogram scheduled for 27 November.