Rebel puzzle in Italy

Press, Issue 33840, 12 May 1975, Page 15

Rebel puzzle in Italy

(N Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) ROME. May 11.

Three rebel convicts, transferred to new prisons at the demand of a Left-wing guerrilla group, called late last night for the group to release a senior Italian judge kidnapped last Wednesday.

The convicts issued a statement, after conferring with their lawyers, calling for the N.A.P. (Armed Proletarian Units) to free Judge Giuseppe di Gennaro, but accusing television and the press of not publishing N.A.P. bulletins in full, as had been agreed.

The statement said: “Despite the attempt ot the capitalist media to discredit N.A.P. politics and the successful co-ordination between N.A.P. units inside and outside prison, we do not think it right to continue the imprisonment of di Gennaro

. . . and we will allow the external unit to put him on provisional liberty.” The statement came as investigators were trying to untangle an increasinglyconfused situation which also included a mystery man called "Sergio D.”

The rebel convicts were transferred from Viterbo Prison, north of Rome, to prisons in the north of Italy in compliance with N.A.P. demands.

The rebels, who had knifed two guards at Viterbo on Friday night and had held another hostage for 12 hours, said before their move that Dr di Gennaro, who is 51, would be freed once they arrived at their destinations. But the N.A.P. did not release him and, instead, imposed a new condition: that three leading Italian lawyers should talk to “Sergio D.” who, the guerrillas claimed, was arrested recently by the Italian police.

In a recorded message found in a Rome telephonebox last night, Dr di Gennaro /tpld investigators: “You are doing everything wrong, and are prejudicing my’ position. The police have not given ‘Sergio D.’ the right to defend himself.”

A check on prisons throughout Italy has failed to turn up any prisoner with the first name “Sergio” and a surname beginning with the letter D. The police say they think that the name is a fake —possibly a code-word which can be understood only by other guerrillas. Protests broke out at Viterbo Prison after the departure of the three rebels: about 18 convicts were spending the night on the roof, having equipped themselves with food and heavy blankets.

The police have cordoned off the building, but say that the situation is under control. The kidnapping of Dr di Gennaro has had immediate political implications in the | run-up to important regional 1 elections next month alreadydominated by the law-and-| order issue. The powerful Communist[ Party, which was hoping to make substantial gains in the elections at the expense of the Christian Democrats, described the. affair as “a totally predictable provocation.” Christian Democrat leaders iare using the case to drive ihome their argument that the (wave of political violence l sweeping Italy is not caused (exclusively by Right-wing (extremists.