２０人の命を奪った海兵隊のパイロットが米軍の法廷で無罪になったことでイ
タリアでは国民の怒りが高まっていますが、イタリアはユーゴ空爆の最前線基地
を提供している国でもあります。もし基地の使用を断られたら作戦が成り立たな
いという心配から、イタリアの怒りを鎮めるために、米国は米国内で服役してい
る誘拐犯のイタリア人をイタリアに移送するようです。マルキストである彼女は
弁護士や支持者からある意味で政治犯と見られています。以前からイタリア政府
は彼女のイタリアでの服役を要求していたとのことです。
アメリカという国は現金で、弱腰の相手にはいくらでも要求してくるが、こち
らが強い態度に出るととたんに譲歩案を出してきますから。
日本でも、石原新都知事が強硬に横田返還を要求し続けるようなら、懐柔策と
して他のつまらぬ基地を返還するということがありうると思います。例えば東京
なら、「赤坂プレスセンター」「ニューサンノー米軍センター」（防衛ハンドブッ
クに載っている名称）などです（これらは基地というより「建物」ですが）。一
番基地返還に反対しているのは日本の外務省です。
> （外務省の）柳井次官は、横田基地の位置づけについて、＜１＞在日
>米軍の司令部が置かれている＜２＞在日米軍の一割程度
>が勤務している――などと指摘。そのうえで、「在日米軍の
>中核施設として日米安保の目的達成上重要な役割を果たし
>ている」と強調し、「政府として現時点で返還、共同使用を求
>めるつもりはない」と述べた。（読売新聞４月１２日）
ただこの措置でイタリア人が納得するかどうかは定かではありません。以下こ
の動きを伝えるAP通信。【転載禁止】
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03:10 AM ET 04/10/99
U.S. May Free Italian To Ease Anger
U.S. May Free Italian To Ease Anger
By ANNE GEARAN=
Associated Press Writer=
WASHINGTON
(AP) _ The United States may soon grant a
long-standing request by Italy to return a jailed radical to
her
native country, in part to ease anger over acquittal of an American
military pilot in 20 deaths at an Italian ski resort, legal and
diplomatic sources say.
Silvia
Baraldini, 51, convicted of kidnapping and attempted
robbery in 1983 and sentenced to 40 years in prison, has been
behind bars for 16 years.
Permitting
Ms. Baraldini, an Italian citizen, to return to Italy
to serve the balance of her sentence would also be a goodwill
gesture acknowledging that country's role as NATO conducts
airstrikes in nearby Yugoslavia.
Justice
Department officials plan to meet with their Italian
counterparts within a few weeks to discuss letting Ms. Baraldini
go
to Italy, said sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. The
Italian premier and foreign minister are to arrive in Washington
later this month for a NATO gathering in honor of the alliance's
50th anniversary.
``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 petitioned repeatedly 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 previous requests, citing the
gravity of Ms. Baraldini's convictions 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, said spokeswoman Chris Watney. Officials would not
discuss details.
Ms. Baraldini,
who came to the United States with her diplomat
father when she was 11, was convicted in 1983 of trying to rob
a
Brinks armored truck and of kidnapping for her role in the prison
breakout of a Black Liberation Army leader.
She also
was convicted of being part of a Marxist and black
nationalist group accused of crimes dating to 1976. Other members
of that group, which prosecutors called ``the Family,'' were
convicted of a 1981 Brinks heist in New York in which a guard
and
two policemen were killed.
Ms. Baraldini
continues her political agitation from prison in
Danbury, Conn.
A spokesman
for the Italian Embassy in Washington would say only
that the Italian government is still seeking her return.
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's
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.''
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****************************
Masahiko Aoki
青木雅彦
btree@pop11.odn.ne.jp
****************************