Patterns of Global Terrorism 1999 - Italy

The major domestic terrorist act in 1999 was the murder in May of Massimo D'Antona, an adviser to Italy's Labor Minister, by individuals who claimed to be from the Red Brigades, despite the leftist group's dormancy since 1988. Prime Minister D'Alema subsequently said Italy had let down its guard on domestic terrorism in the mistaken belief that homegrown terrorist groups no longer posed a danger. He added that Rome was now working hard to identify and neutralize the group that killed D'Antona.

In spite of that attack, Italy achieved some success against domestic terrorism during the year. Italian law enforcement and judicial officials arrested and sentenced several individuals tied to terrorist groups, while magistrates requested that many more cases be opened in the year 2000. A notable success for Italian security was a raid against the instigators of the demonstration on 13 May at the US Consulate in Florence protesting NATO airstrikes in Kosovo. The instigators included several members of the Red Brigades, Lotta Continua (The Continuous Struggle), and the Cobas Union.

The Italian Government dealt ineptly in the matter of PKK terrorist leader Ocalan, who arrived in Rome in November 1998 and requested political asylum. Italian authorities detained him on an international arrest warrant Germany had issued but declined a Turkish extradition request because Italy's Constitution prohibits extradition to countries that permit capital punishment. The Italian Government sought unsuccessfully to find a European trial venue while declining to invoke the 1977 European counterterrorist convention to prosecute Ocalan in Italy. Unable to find a third country willing to take the PKK leader, the government simply told Ocalan he no longer was welcome in Italy.

Ocalan eventually left for Russia with the apparent assistance of Italian officials, beginning an odyssey that culminated in his capture by Turkish security forces in Kenya in February. Following Ocalan's arrest, PKK and other Kurdish sympathizers held demonstrations – some violent – in several Italian cities, including the Greek consulate in Milan. Since February, however, PKK followers were nonviolent and focused on rebuilding strained relations with the Italian Government and lobbying for Ankara to spare Ocalan's life.

The NATO bombing campaign against Serbia produced leftwing anger and some anti-US violence. The leftist Anti-imperialist Territorial Nuclei, which formed in 1995 and was believed to be allied with former Red Brigades members, held several anti-NATO, anti-US demonstrations. Militant leftists conducted some low-level violence against US interests, such as vandalizing the US airbase at Aviano, and issued public threats to US businesses located in Italy.