The Lyon Court of Appeal gave the green light on Thursday to the extradition to Italy of Edgardo Greco, a former member of the Calabrian mafia arrested a year ago in France where he had become a pizza maker, his lawyer told AFP.
Me David Metaxas immediately announced that he intended to appeal to the Court of Cassation, which suspends the extradition procedure of his client, a 64-year-old former member of the 'Ndrangheta, convicted of a double murder in Italy 18 years ago .
After his arrest on February 2, 2023 in Saint-Étienne, the investigating chamber of the Lyon Court of Appeal authorized his extradition.
But the Court of Cassation invalidated this decision in January for procedural reasons and asked the Lyon court to review the case.
After a new hearing on February 15, the court of appeal confirmed its first decision, to the great dismay of Me Metaxas.
“If he goes to Italy he is dead legally and physically.
Imprisoned there, he will not come out alive (...) our goal is that he can be retried in France
,” he said.
At the same time, the lawyer is trying to obtain the release of Edgardo Greco and has appealed to the Court of Cassation after having suffered several refusals.
Convicted of double murder
The sixty-year-old, considered
“dangerous by Interpol”
, was arrested in early 2023 by the French police thanks to sharing information with the Italian carabinieri, as part of the I-Can project (Interpol cooperation against the 'Ndrangheta).
Born on June 7, 1959, Edgardo Greco moved to Germany and then to France after his conviction in 2006 by Italian justice for a double murder committed in Italy for the benefit of the Calabrian mafia.
He worked in several Italian restaurants in Saint-Étienne, where he called himself Paolo Dimitrio, with an interlude, between June and November 2021 at the head of his own Italian establishment, according to testimonies and documents consulted by AFP.