Bruni backed Red Brigades woman

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Carla Bruni, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has told how she visited a former Red Brigades militant, Marina Petrella, in hospital.

The news emerged after Mr Sarkozy blocked Petrella's extradition to Italy on humanitarian grounds.

Ms Bruni said the threat to Petrella's health had become "intolerable".

The former left-wing militant has been receiving treatment in the psychiatric ward of a Paris hospital, and has reportedly been suicidal.

Petrella, 54, was sentenced to life in absentia by a Rome court in 1992 for murder and kidnapping.

I gave him some information that was perhaps a little bit important in his decision Valeria Bruni-TedeschiNicolas Sarkozy's sister-in-law

She was arrested in Paris in 2007 after two decades on the run, shortly after Mr Sarkozy came to power promising to end the amnesty France had offered Red Brigades militants.

A French court approved her extradition in December - a decision endorsed by the French prime minister.

However, Mr Sarkozy's office announced at the weekend that he had decided to reverse the extradition order.

"Despite the attentive care Mrs Petrella enjoys at the Sainte-Anne Hospital, her state of health has not improved," a statement said, adding that doctors believed her life could be at risk.

"This individual measure was taken in consideration of Mrs Petrella's health situation alone," it added.

Lobbied Sarkozy

But the decision not to proceed with the extradition has been greeted with alarm in Italy, says the BBC's Duncan Kennedy, in Rome.

One relative of a Red Brigades murder victim described it as "unacceptable."

And it later emerged that both Carla Bruni and her sister had visited Petrella in hospital.

Marina Petrella's doctors said her life was at risk

Ms Bruni was the one who carried news of her husband's decision to Petrella.

"We could not let this woman die," the French newspaper Liberation quoted her as saying.

"The situation had become intolerable, dangerous."

Ms Bruni's sister, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, said she had lobbied Mr Sarkozy on Petrella's behalf.

"I told him about her, especially just after I saw her in jail. I gave him some information that was perhaps a little bit important in his decision," she said.

"He focused his attention on a case that he hadn't completely focused on before," she said.

Petrella is alleged to have been a key figure in the Red Brigades, who were accused of dozens of murders in the 1970s and 80s, including that of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978.

She was arrested over the murder of a police officer, but escaped to France while on bail.

Socialist President Francois Mitterrand offered the group's members asylum provided they renounced violence.