Le Figaro Lyon
In a ruling published on Tuesday, the Court of Cassation overturned the decision of the Lyon Court of Appeal on the extradition of Edgardo Greco, the Italian pizzaiolo on the run since 2006 and suspected of belonging to the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia.
The judges of France's highest court followed the arguments of Edgardo Greco's defence which raised an irregularity in the decision of the Lyon investigating chamber, as the judges who participated in the interrogation were not the same as those who signed the report. 'At the time of the interrogation report of 30 March 2023, the investigating chamber was composed of Mr Pisana, President, Ms Fouché and Ms Palle, counsellors, (...) and during the debates and deliberations, Mr. Pisana, President, Mrs. Fouché and Mrs. Duval, Councillors; as a result that the procedure is not lawful and the judgment does not meet, in form, the essential conditions of its legal existence," the Court of Cassation wrote in its decision. The court followed the opinion of the Advocate General who had acknowledged the irregularity of the procedure in his opinion as we wrote at the end of November 2023.
His defence is calling for his release
Edgardo Greco was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 in Italy for committing several murders for the mafia in the 1990s. However, he has always denied these murders. In 2021, he was identified by facial recognition software following the publication on the internet of an article in the local newspaper Le Progrès announcing the opening of his pizzeria in Saint-Étienne. Now detained in Lyon Corbas prison, the one who says he fears for his life in case of extradition, said he was ready to serve his sentence in France.
His lawyer David Metaxas is now calling for his release. "He has been detained without rights or title for a year now, so he must be released. Either the public prosecutor's office does it, or I will make a request for my release tomorrow myself," he told Le Figaro. The case must now be referred to "the Lyon Court of Appeal in a different composition," the Court of Cassation said. It's a familiar formula, but here it takes on a whole new dimension.