The United States is considering returning a jailed radical to her native Italy

Información enviada al Director de Tlahui. USA 12 Apr 1999. Re: Posting for 4/12/99. www.sfgate.com. Jailed activist may be freed in wake of cable car case ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writer. Friday, April 9, 1999.

(04-09) 12:37 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States is considering returning a jailed radical to her native Italy, a gesture that could appease anger over acquittal of an American military pilot in 20 deaths at an Italian ski resort, legal and diplomatic sources say.

Justice Department officials plan to meet with their Italian counterparts within a few weeks to discuss letting Silvia Baraldini, 51, serve the balance of her 40-year term in Italy, said sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. She has been behind bars for 16 years.

The case is expected to be on the agenda when the Italian premier and foreign minister arrive in Washington later this month for a NATO gathering in honor of the alliance's 50th anniversary. Permitting Ms. Baraldini, an Italian citizen, to leave would also be a goodwill gesture acknowledging Italy's role as NATO conducts airstrikes in nearby Yugoslavia.

``Frankly, the Italians are pretty frustrated, and the Americans want to prove our cooperation with them,'' said Elizabeth Fink, a lawyer for Ms. Baraldini. ``I hope finally the Americans will agree.''

The Italian government has repeatedly petitioned for Ms. Baraldini's return under a treaty that lets convicts jailed abroad serve their terms at home. The treaty requires consent from both countries on a case-by-case basis.

The United States has refused five such requests regarding Ms. Baraldini since 1989, citing the gravity of her attempted robbery and kidnapping convictions in 1983, and the lack of a guarantee that she would serve her entire term if sent home.

A sixth request, made last summer, is pending before the Justice Department, spokeswoman Chris Watney said. Officials would not discuss details.

A spokesman for the Italian Embassy in Washington would say only that the Italian government is still seeking the return of Ms. Baraldini, who moved to the United States with her diplomat father when she was 11. The Italian justice minister, Oliviero Diliberto, has said that President Clinton and Italian Premier Massimo D'Alema set the stage for upcoming negotiations during the Italian leader's visit to Washington last month.

Prosecutors alleged that Marine Capt. Richard Ashby was flying too low and too fast when he sliced a gondola cable in the Italian Alps on Feb. 3, 1998. Ashby was acquitted the day before D'Alema arrived in Washington, and Italian outrage over the verdict shadowed the visit.

The jet's navigator later pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and conspiracy. He was dismissed from the Marine Corps.

Ms. Baraldini was tried in 1983 along with other self-described revolutionaries for attempted robbery and other crimes. She was convicted of trying to rob a Brinks armored truck and of kidnapping for her role in the prison breakout of a Black Liberation Army leader.

Then a communist who cut her political teeth as a University of Wisconsin at Madison student in the late 1960s, Ms. Baraldini was also convicted of being part of a Marxist and black nationalist group accused of crimes dating to 1976.

Members of the group that prosecutors called ``the Family'' were convicted of a 1981 Brinks heist in New York in which a guard and two policemen were killed.

She refused to cooperate with FBI investigations of revolutionary or terrorist groups, and continues her political agitation from prison in Danbury, Conn.

Her lawyer and a network of supporters in Italy and the United States consider her a political prisoner who is being treated harshly because of her antigovernment beliefs.

``There are hundreds of these transfers every year,'' Ms. Fink said. ``Americans use it to bring people here ... and they grant transfers to other countries.''

Supporters also cite humanitarian reasons to return Ms. Baraldini to Italy, where her ailing mother lives. Ms. Baraldini herself has been treated for cancer.

In remarks published on a Web site devoted to her cause, she expressed remorse for the violence, but also struck a defiant tone.

``They could not care less about my behavior in prison or any personal changes I may have made,'' she said. ``It is quite simply an ideological matter -- they want me to renounce my principles and lower my head before the dominant ideology.''

From: National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners prpowpp@aol.com
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