On September 30, the Rome Court of Appeal upheld the...

On September 30, the Rome Court of Appeal upheld the request for extradition presented by the authorities of the People's Republic of China with regard to Song Zhicai, a Chinese citizen arrested in Italy on November 6, 1998, with a international warrant issued a month earlier by the Chinese legal authorities in Harbin. At first, Song Zhichai, who in China was the president of a finance company called the "Harbin Dadi Industrial Group," was accused of fraud, under Art. 192 of China's New Criminal Law, which provides for a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or even the death penalty in the case of particularly large sums. Since Italy forbids extradition in capital cases, the Chinese authorities subsequently gave assurances that Zhicai would by tried under Art. 152 of the Old Criminal Law of 1979 which provides for a maximum of life imprisonment. But the Chinese citizen, who maintains that he is a political dissident and this is why he has been unjustly accused of fraud, has nevertheless requested that extradition not be granted because the Chinese authorities are not able to guarantee a fair trial, humane prison conditions, and, above all, because they are not able to guarantee that the death penalty will not be applied. The Italian Justice and Foreign Ministers were urgently petitioned by Senator Piero Milio and deputy Enzo Trantino on behalf of the accused. In an attempt to overturn the sentence pronounced by the Court of Appeal, which has granted extradition, Zhicai's defense counsel has presented an appeal to the Court of Cassation which has yet to reach a verdict. Should the Court of Cassation uphold the extradition, the ultimate decision lies with the Justice Minister who could refuse it on the basis of political motives.