Mitterrand doctrine

Mitterrand and Sandro Pertini in 1982

The Mitterrand doctrine (from French: Doctrine Mitterrand) is a policy established in 1985 by French President François Mitterrand, of the Socialist Party, concerning Italian far-left terrorists who fled to France: those convicted for violent acts in Italy, excluding "active, actual, bloody terrorism" during the "Years of Lead", would not be extradited to Italy.

The Mitterrand Doctrine was softened in 2002, under the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin during the presidency of Jacques Chirac, when Paolo Persichetti [it] was extradited from France. However, it continued to remain in effect, with the extradition of 10 far-left terrorists from France to Italy blocked by the French Court of Cassation in 2023.