Leonardo Bertolazzi Escapes Argentina House Arrest by Abseiling

What changed

Leonardo Bertolazzi, a 74-year-old Italian convicted in absentia over the 1977 kidnapping of naval engineer Pietro Costa, has escaped house arrest in Buenos Aires.

He used a harness to abseil from a fifth-floor balcony while awaiting extradition to Italy. His ankle monitor kept transmitting body-temperature data after he tampered with it, delaying detection. A nationwide manhunt is under way.

Why it matters

The escape turned a nearly completed extradition into a fresh cross-border hunt. Bertolazzi had already spent decades as a fugitive before his arrest in Argentina in 2002, refugee status in 2004 and re-arrest in 2024.

The ankle monitor is the sharpest detail here. It appeared active, but it was no longer attached to him. Officials became suspicious only after noticing that it had stopped moving. Police also called explosives experts because of Bertolazzi’s past with the Red Brigades and his bomb-making skills, though the device had been altered to avoid triggering an alarm, not to explode.

His last extradition appeal had reportedly been rejected, making the escape especially consequential for Italian authorities. Where he is now, and whether anyone helped him, remain unknown.