Delfo Zorzi

Delfo Zorzi, presently known as Roi Hagen (波元路伊, Hagen Roi), is an Italian-born Japanese citizen accused of terrorism in his country of origin.^[1]

Biography

Delfo Zorzi/Roi Hagen was born in Arzignano, near Vicenza, Italy, on July 3, 1947, joined neo-fascist organization Ordine Nuovo in 1966, and later became head of the organization's chapter in Mestre, the city where his family dealt in furs.

In 1968 he moved to Naples to study Asian languages. He graduated with a thesis on Bushidō, a Japanese code of conduct and a way of life loosely analogous to the European concept of chivalry.

He came under investigation for the Piazza Fontana bombing after witnesses indicated him as the material executor of the crime, the man who built the explosive device and on December 12, 1969 left it at the offices of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura ("National Agrarian Bank") in Piazza Fontana, Milan, Italy.

In 1974 he moved to Japan and in 1989 he took Japanese citizenship with his present name, Roi Hāgen.

Re-tried in absentia for the Piazza Fontana bombing, he was at first sentenced to life imprisonment, but was later acquitted in appeal for lack of evidence on March 12, 2004. On May 3, 2005 the supreme Court of Cassation definitively acquitted Zorzi from the accusation.

In the meanwhile, Hagen has been investigated and sent to a higher court for the Piazza della Loggia bombing in Brescia, a crime of which he is still accused of.^[2] In 2014 the supreme Court of Cassation acquitted Zorzi from the accusation.^[3]

Today Hagen lives in the Tokyo neighborhood of Aoyama and, because Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Italy, cannot be extradited. A successful businessman, he directs from Tokyo several import-export firms in Asia and in Europe.

In September 2005 an investigation^[4] by magazine L'Espresso accused Hagen of dealing in furs in Italy via a series of firms under an assumed name. Specifically, he is the alleged owner of the shop Oxus in Milano's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, built on land belonging to the city, of another shop of the same chain in Rome's Piazza Fiume,^[2] and of other Oxus businesses in Conegliano Veneto and Pordenone.^[5]

In 1999 he intervened via telephone in a television program ("Porta a Porta" hosted by Bruno Vespa). The conversation was partly re-broadcast during the television program Blu notte, conducted by Carlo Lucarelli in an episode dedicated to the Strage di Piazza Fontana bombing, during which he was again interviewed via telephone.

Italy claims Hagen's Japanese citizenship may have been obtained illegally, since at the time he hadn't given up his Italian passport.^[6] Legal proceedings to strip him of his Japanese citizenship to allow extradition do not seem to be proceeding well, however, and his extradition to Italy is unlikely.^[7]

References