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Our First Lady's scandalous crush
Janine Di Giovanni17 Oct 2008
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has found herself in the middle of another scandal for defending a terrorist. It is a peculiarly French predicament.
This week, following the First Lady's intervention, President Nicolas Sarkozy overrode a French court's decision to extradite Marina Petrella to Italy. Petrella, formerly a senior commander in the Red Brigades, was found guilty in absentia by an Italian court in 1992 of armed robbery, kidnapping and the murder of a policeman.
But last week Carla visited Petrella, who was on hunger strike in hospital, and promised her she would not have to return to Italy and face justice. Why Carla has taken her side is baffling and has angered Parisians and Italians alike. The fact that she should influence a head of state is even more worrying.
It is also deeply hypocritical. Carla and her wealthy family fled their palazzo outside Turin in the Seventies for France because of the very people she is now defending. A cousin had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades and Carla's parents decided to move their millions to Paris.
It is a peculiarly French tic to side with the bad guys simply because they are nominally on the Left. Such glorification of terrorist organisations is something that would never happen in England. No one sees the IRA as a romantic, elusive group.
Carla is not the only one to fall for terrorist chic. Her sister, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, even made a film which burnishes the Red Brigades' memory. There is a scene in It Is Easier For a Camel ... , a fiction based on the wealth and craziness of the Bruni-Tedeschi clan, where the young daughter has been kidnapped by terrorists. But instead of being murderous thugs, the good-looking comrades are kind to the little girl. They even join her and her family at their palazzo for a riotous dinner, singing communist songs and drinking expensive wine.
Nevertheless, it is particularly offensive to see Carla now flirting with the extremists like some adolescent. This week, families of the Red Brigades' Italian victims have protested outside the Elysée Palace. Not extraditing Petrella to face the music in Italy could set a serious precedent.
Let's just hope Sarko doesn't listen to Carla the next time Britain needs a terror suspect sent home.
Reader views (2)
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case, I can't see how Bruni-Sarkozy is being hypocritical by apparently trying to defend someone who attacked her family. For that to be the case she would have to have benefited from the activities of the Red Brigade and then delivered them into the hands of the Italians - exactly the opposite of what is happening. Unless you know something else?
Baffling certainly; naive or misguided perhaps: but how is she hypocritically benefitting at the expense of others? Making herself unpopular in two countries hardly qualifies.
In fact, your admission that it is baffling almost certainly invalidates a charge of hypocrisy. Such accusations depend on a demonstrable link between motive and action. It is, as you say, baffling and therefore no link can be drawn.
Please sort out your thoughts before committing finger to keyboard. Otherwise you're doing little more than splattering pointless illogicalities around the place.
- John, London, 20/10/2008 11:51
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I expect Cherie would have done (or maybe she did?) similar. Anyone know if Abu Hamza was a client?
- Ethan, uk, 17/10/2008 13:28
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