Our First Lady's scandalous crush

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has found herself in the middle of another scandal for defending a terrorist. It is a peculiarly French predicament.

This week, following the First Lady's intervention, President Nicolas Sarkozy overrode a French court's decision to extradite Marina Petrella to Italy. Petrella, formerly a senior commander in the Red Brigades, was found guilty in absentia by an Italian court in 1992 of armed robbery, kidnapping and the murder of a policeman.

But last week Carla visited Petrella, who was on hunger strike in hospital, and promised her she would not have to return to Italy and face justice. Why Carla has taken her side is baffling and has angered Parisians and Italians alike. The fact that she should influence a head of state is even more worrying.

It is also deeply hypocritical. Carla and her wealthy family fled their palazzo outside Turin in the Seventies for France because of the very people she is now defending. A cousin had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades and Carla's parents decided to move their millions to Paris.

It is a peculiarly French tic to side with the bad guys simply because they are nominally on the Left. Such glorification of terrorist organisations is something that would never happen in England. No one sees the IRA as a romantic, elusive group.

Carla is not the only one to fall for terrorist chic. Her sister, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, even made a film which burnishes the Red Brigades' memory. There is a scene in It Is Easier For a Camel ... , a fiction based on the wealth and craziness of the Bruni-Tedeschi clan, where the young daughter has been kidnapped by terrorists. But instead of being murderous thugs, the good-looking comrades are kind to the little girl. They even join her and her family at their palazzo for a riotous dinner, singing communist songs and drinking expensive wine.

Nevertheless, it is particularly offensive to see Carla now flirting with the extremists like some adolescent. This week, families of the Red Brigades' Italian victims have protested outside the Elysée Palace. Not extraditing Petrella to face the music in Italy could set a serious precedent.

Let's just hope Sarko doesn't listen to Carla the next time Britain needs a terror suspect sent home.