Red Brigades fugitive escapes house arrest in Argentina

Leonardo Bertulazzi, a 74-year-old former member of Italy's Red Brigades, has escaped from house arrest in Argentina, the country's security ministry confirmed on Wednesday.

Authorities placed Bertulazzi under house arrest in Buenos Aires in 2024 before his extradition to Italy to serve a 27-year prison sentence. He received the sentence in 1987 for joining a subversive association and belonging to an armed group.

Argentina's security ministry offered a $13,000 reward for information leading to his recapture after he slipped out of detention.

Bertulazzi was first arrested by Argentine authorities in 2002 after years on the run. He was freed a few months later and secured refugee status in 2004, but was arrested again in 2024 after that status was revoked.

Argentina approved his extradition to Italy in July 2025 after the Supreme Court rejected a final appeal.

The Red Brigades were a radical Marxist organisation responsible for attacks during Italy's “Years of Lead”. The group most notoriously kidnapped and assassinated former prime minister Aldo Moro in 1978.

Local media reported that Bertulazzi used a harness to lower himself from a fifth-floor balcony, but authorities have not confirmed those details. Police found his ankle monitor discarded after it stopped transmitting movement data, and Bertulazzi was gone.