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During the 1970s, Italy was hit by a surge of terrorist activities perpetrated by neo-fascist groups as well as similar reactions by extreme left armed groups, such as the Red Brigades. A small group of left-leaning attorneys took over the defense of the members of the Red Brigades. This paper aims at assessing the complexity and dangers involved in these defense cases. On one hand, the attorneys involved were rejected by the Red Brigades as soon as their trial began (1976-1978) as a political act of rebellion against the state and the judiciary. And on the other hand, many of these same attorneys were accused of aiding and abetting their clients as well as participation in armed group activities, particularly after the beginning of the phenomenon of the