Fugitive communist militant and writer Cesare Battisti captured after 37 years of evasion

Updated

Fugitive Italian communist militant Cesare Battisti has been extradited to Italy after his capture in Bolivia nearly three decades after being convicted of multiple murders.

Key points: Battisti was charged with four murder counts in absentia after fleeing jail in 1981

The writer had a safe haven in France due to a policy protecting former far-left Italian militants

Brazil had granted him asylum in 2010, but the last President signed an extradition order

His extradition was confirmed in a statement from the Government of Brazil, where Battisti lived for several years until recently fleeing to Bolivia after Brazil's outgoing President signed a decree ordering his extradition.

The development sets the stage for a climax to one of Italy's longest-running efforts to bring a fugitive to justice, after Bolivian police arrested Battisti, 64, on the weekend.

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said he would "finish his days in prison" as soon as he steps on Italian soil.

Battisti escaped from an Italian prison in 1981 while awaiting trial on four counts of murder allegedly committed when he was a member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism, and was subsequently given a life sentence in absentia.

He has acknowledged membership in the group but has denied killing anyone.

Rome finally gets its way

Battisti's membership of the Armed Proletarians for Communism came at a time of great political and social upheaval for Italy.

Between the late 1960s and early 1980s, the country was thrown into the Anni di Piombo — or Years of Lead —that saw acts of political terrorism spring from both the left and the right in acts designed to shock.

Far-left militants known as the Red Brigades assassinated Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978, dumping his bullet-riddled body in a car boot in the centre of Rome.

It was during this period Battisti was accused of murdering, or being an accessory to, the murders of shopkeepers, a butcher and jeweller and two police officers in 1979.

He was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison, but managed to break out of a jail in Rome in 1981.

After initially fleeing to Mexico, he then fled to France and was given protection under the Mitterand Doctrine — a French policy protecting left-wing Italian terrorists that "renounced violence" that held in place until the early 2000s.

When France's commitment to the doctrine fell, Battisti fled to Mexico, then to Brazil, where he was able to enjoy relative freedom and support from the French left throughout.

In the intervening years, Battisti was able to make a career as a novelist, following in the footsteps of other Mediterranean Noir writers such as Massimo Carlotto.

Former French President François Hollande paid Battisti a visit in a Paris prison in 2004, while prominent French philosopher Bernard Henri Lévy was by his side in a Brazilian prison in 2007.

Writing in support of the man around the time of his Brazilian arrest, Mr Lévy made a direct appeal to then Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva:

"Extraditing Battisti would create a dangerous precedent. Not extraditing him would show the world — which has its eyes fixed on Brazil and on you — that there are principles that neither reasons of national interest nor the logic of cold monsters can purchase," he wrote.

The President eventually granted asylum to Battisti in 2010.

Brazil's outgoing President sealed Battisti's fate

Battisti was arrested again in 2017 after he was caught trying to cross the Brazil-Bolivia border carrying the equivalent of about $7,500 in undeclared cash.

He was released after a few days.

As a result of that incident, Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal Justice Luiz Fux said in December that Interpol had issued the latest request for Battisti's arrest on tax evasion and money laundering charges, leading him to issue a Brazilian warrant.

Based on that, outgoing Brazilian President Michel Temer signed the decree ordering the extradition.

Minister Salvini praised Bolivian police and Brazil's new government for following through on the case.

He called Mr Battisti a "delinquent who doesn't deserve to live comfortably on the beach but rather to finish his days in prison".

ABC/wires

Topics: crime, international-law, murder-and-manslaughter, bolivia, italy, brazil

First posted</s>Italy vows to have fugitive militant Battisti extradited to Italy 'as soon as possible' after his capture in Bolivia

ROME (AP) — Italy vows to have fugitive militant Battisti extradited to Italy 'as soon as possible' after his capture in Bolivia.</s>ROME (AP) — Italy vows to have fugitive militant Battisti extradited to Italy 'as soon as possible' after his capture in Bolivia.</s>MILAN (Reuters) - Italian former leftist guerrilla Cesare Battisti, convicted of murder in his home country, has been arrested in Bolivia and will be extradited to Italy, a Brazilian official said.

“He will soon arrive in Brazil and from here will be transferred to Italy to serve a life sentence,” Filipe G. Martins, a senior aide on international affairs to President Jair Bolsonaro, tweeted.

Battisti, long sought by Italy, faces life in prison in his home country, where he was convicted of four murders committed in the 1970s.

He escaped from prison in 1981 and lived in France before fleeing to Brazil to avoid being extradited.

He spent years in Brazil as a refugee, backed by former left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. However, Bolsonaro, who took office on 1 January, pledged to send him back to Italy and a Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered his arrest in December. [nL1N1YJ00X]

In a statement on Sunday, Italian deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini thanked the police and all those involved in the capture of Battisti.

“I thank with all my heart the president Jair Bolsonaro and the new Brazilian government for the changed political climate,” he said.

The Italian ambassador in Brazil Antonio Bernardini tweeted “Battisti has been captured! Democracy is stronger than terrorism”.</s>Italian premier says fugitive militant Cesare Battisti will return to Italy within hours on direct flight from Bolivia

ROME (AP) — Italian premier says fugitive militant Cesare Battisti will return to Italy within hours on direct flight from Bolivia.</s>Paris — Convicted as a murderer for bloodshed in the 1970s, former left-wing Italian activist Cesare Battisti, who was caught in Bolivia, has spent almost four decades on the run, detailing his experiences in a string of acclaimed thrillers.

His capture at the weekend was the latest twist in a near 40-year legal and diplomatic saga worthy of the kind of autobiographical novel the 64-year-old made his speciality.

Convicted in absentia to life behind bars by an Italian court, he has spent years on the road, travelling from Mexico to France and Brazil, despite regular threats of extradition.

Battisti was convicted by an Italian court in 1993 and sentenced to life for involvement in four murders in the 1970s when he was a left-wing activist.

Though he admits being part of an armed revolutionary group, he has always denied responsibility for any deaths.

But Rome remains determined to punish one of the last figures from Italy’s so-called Years of Lead, a decade of violent turmoil that began in the late 1960s and saw dozens of deadly attacks by hardline left-wing and right-wing groups.

A softly spoken apologist who can tirelessly argue in multiple languages, Battisti was born in southern Rome on December 18 1954 into a Catholic family of communists.

In the late 1970s, after spending several brief stints in prison for minor offences, he joined the Armed Proletarians for Communism (PAC), a radical left-wing group that staged a string of robberies and attacks.

“Aspiring to change society with arms is idiotic,” he said in an interview in 2011. “But listen, at the time everyone was packing a gun. There were guerillas all over the world, Italy was in a pre-revolutionary situation.”

Arrested in Milan in 1979 and sentenced for belonging to an armed gang, Battisti managed to escape from prison near Rome two years later, fleeing first to France and then to Mexico in 1982.

Following a pledge by France’s then socialist president Francois Mitterand not to extradite former Italian activists who had turned their back on their past, Battisti returned to France in 1990 and began his writing career.

Three years later, a Milan court convicted him in absentia of personally killing two Italian police officers, participating in the murder of a butcher, and planning an attack on a jeweller who died in a shoot-out that left his 14-year-old son in a wheelchair.

But Battisti has denied having any blood on his hands over the four murders, which took place in 1978 and 1979.

Like hundreds of other Italians who were politically active in the 1970s, Battisti rebuilt his life in Paris, where he stayed until 2004.

Working as a caretaker to make ends meet, he began writing thrillers, publishing more than a dozen of them, many with a strongly autobiographical bent focusing on the exile and redemption of former hardline activists.

In 2004, the government of Jacques Chirac decided to end Mitterand’s policy and extradite Battisti back to Italy.

Despite the support of several high-profile figures, including best-selling crime novelist Fred Vargas and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, Battisti’s legal appeals were rejected.

But he skipped bail and fled to Brazil using a false identity with the help, he later claimed, of the French secret services. But after staying under the radar for three years, he was arrested in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro.

He then spent four years in custody while his fate was debated by politicians and the courts. At one point he even began a hunger strike, insisting he would “prefer to die in Brazil than return to Italy”.

In January 2010, just hours before he left office, Brazil’s left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva decided to reject an Italian request for his extradition.

Eighteen months later, Battisti was freed after Brazil’s supreme court upheld Lula’s decision in a move that sparked fury in Italy.

After his release in June 2011, Brazil gave him permanent residency and he moved to the small coastal city of Cananeia where he has continued to write.

In 2015, he married his partner Priscila and the pair have a five-year-old son, Raul.

But his life has been subjected to the shifting decisions of Brazil’s judiciary, with a judge once again ordering his extradition in 2015, and two years later, he was picked up at the border with Bolivia as he was trying to cross.

During Brazil’s recent election campaign, far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro pledged to “immediately” extradite Battisti if elected, prompting the fugitive to once again disappear.

But he was found on Saturday in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra and, once again, faces the prospect of extradition to Italy.</s>ROME (AP) — Italian premier says fugitive militant Cesare Battisti will return to Italy within hours on direct flight from Bolivia.</s>Cesare Battisti, a former Italian communist activist sought by Rome for four murders in the 1970s, has been arrested after an international police squad tracked him to Bolivia where he faces extradition to Brazil and then likely to Italy.

Italy has repeatedly sought the extradition of Battisti, who lived in Brazil for years under the protection of former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), who is now in prison for corruption.

"Italian terrorist Cesare Battisti was detained in Bolivia (Saturday night) and will be soon brought to Brazil, from where he will probably be sent to Italy to serve a life sentence," tweeted Filipe G Martins, a senior aide on international affairs to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

During Brazil's recent presidential campaign, the far-right Bolsonaro, who took office on January 1, vowed that if elected he would "immediately" extradite Battisti to Italy.

In mid-December Brazil's outgoing president, Michel Temer, signed an extradition order for Battisti after a judge ordered his arrest. By then the Italian had disappeared.

Battisti, 64, was arrested late on Saturday in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Brazilian police sources told Brazilian media. Italian interior ministry sources confirmed the arrest.

"Battisti was arrested in the street, unarmed and he didn't resist, responded to police in Portuguese and showed a Brazilian document confirming his identity," an Italian interior ministry source said. "Now Italy is waiting for him."

Italian state police said the arrest had been carried out by a joint team of Italian and Bolivian officers with the help of Italy's "counterterrorism" section.

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini thanked the Italian and foreign police who captured "a delinquent who did not deserve the comfortable life on the beach, and who should spend out the rest of his days in prison".

Bolsonaro's legislator son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, tweeted in Italian with a picture of Battisti: "Brazil is no longer the land of bandits. Matteo Salvini, the 'little gift' is on its way."

Battisti escaped from an Italian prison after being convicted in 1979 of his allegiance to an outlawed leftist group, Armed Proletarians for Communism.

He was subsequently convicted in absentia of having killed two Italian policemen, taking part in the murder of a butcher and helping plan the slaying of a jeweller who died in a shooting which left his 14-year-old son in a wheelchair.

Battisti admitted to being part of the group but refused to take responsibility for any deaths.

He reinvented himself as an author, writing a string of noir novels and in 2004 skipped bail in France, where he had taken refuge. He went to live clandestinely in Brazil until he was arrested in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro.

After years in custody, then-President Lula issued a decree - later upheld by Brazil's Supreme Court - in 2010 refusing Battisti's extradition to Italy, and he was freed, angering Italy.

Battisti, who has a five-year-old Brazilian son, last year told the AFP news agency that he faced "torture" and death if he were ever to be sent back to Italy.</s>MILAN (Reuters) - Italian former leftist guerrilla Cesare Battisti, convicted of murder and on the run for almost four decades after escaping prison, was extradited to Italy after being arrested in Bolivia, officials said on Sunday.

His extradition was confirmed in a statement from the Brazilian government, where Battisti lived for several years until recently fleeing to Bolivia.

Battisti, 64, was arrested on Saturday in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra by an Interpol team.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy for involvement in four murders in the 1970s as a member of the far-left Armed Proletarians for Communism.

After escaping in 1981, he lived in France before fleeing to Brazil to avoid extradition. Battisti, who has a 5-year-old Brazilian son, lived in Brazil with the support of former left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

However, the far-right Bolsonaro, who took office this month, pledged to return Battisti to Italy. In December, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered Battisti’s arrest, but by then he had vanished again.

Battisti’s lawyers in Brazil filed an emergency motion on Sunday to try to stay his extradition, but the president of the country’s Supreme Court, Jose Antonio Dias Toffoli, denied it.

Bolivian Interior Minister Carlos Romero told reporters Battisti had been found on the streets after entering Bolivia illegally.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini thanked Bolsonaro and the new Brazilian government “with all my heart for the changed political climate”.

Salvini, head of the right-wing League party that partners the 5-Star Movement in Italy’s ruling coalition, was one of the first top European politicians to endorse Bolsonaro.

Battisti, who became a successful crime novel writer, said last year that he feared he would be tortured and killed if he were sent back to Italy.</s>A left-wing Italian militant who was convicted of murder in his home country nearly three decades ago was arrested in Bolivia, authorities said Sunday, setting the stage for a climactic end to one of Italy’s longest-running efforts to bring a fugitive to justice.

Hours later, Cesare Battisti was handed over to Italian custody, officials said, and was to be flown back to Italy to serve a life sentence. He was captured by Bolivian and Italian officers in Santa Cruz de La Sierra, where he was located by intelligence agents after using one of his mobile devices, Italian police and RAI state television said.

The 64-year-old had been living openly in Brazil for years and enjoyed the protection of left-wing governments on both sides of the Atlantic. But Brazil’s outgoing president signed a decree last month ordering his extradition, apparently sparking Battisti’s latest effort to flee.

Italian police released a video of Battisti they said was taken hours before his capture, showing him seemingly oblivious to surveillance cameras tracking him as he walked casually down the street in jeans, a blue T-shirt and sunglasses. A subsequent image showed Battisti’s mug shot under the seal of the Bolivian police.

“Cesare Battisti’s long flight is over,” Justice Minister Alfonso Buonafede declared, adding that he would be taken to Rome’s Rebibbia prison as soon as he lands in Italy.

Battisti escaped from an Italian prison in 1981 while awaiting trial on four counts of murder allegedly committed when he was a member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism. He was convicted in absentia in 1990 and faces a life term for the deaths of two police officers, a jeweller and a butcher.

He acknowledged membership in the group but denied killing anyone and has painted himself as a political refugee.

After initially fleeing to Mexico, he then went to France, where he joined dozens of left-wing Italian militants who enjoyed official protection from the French government.

Like Battisti, they fled during Italy’s “years of lead,” a bloody and turbulent era during the 1970s and 1980s when militants on the left and right carried out bombings, assassinations and other violent acts to try to bring down the Italian government.

After political winds shifted in France, Battisti fled to Brazil in 2004 to avoid being extradited. He was arrested in Rio de Janeiro in 2007, prompting the Italian government to request that he be handed over. But former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva granted him asylum in 2010.

Battisti was eventually released from jail but was arrested again in 2017 after he was caught trying to cross the Brazil-Bolivia border carrying the equivalent of about $7,500 in undeclared cash. He was released after a few days.

As a result of that incident, Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal Justice Luiz Fux said in December that Interpol had issued a request for Battisti’s arrest on tax evasion and money laundering charges, leading him to issue a Brazilian warrant. Based on that, outgoing Brazilian President Michel Temer signed the decree ordering the fugitive’s extradition.

Brazil’s new right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, hailed Battisti’s arrest and denounced da Silva’s government for having granted the Italian asylum.

“Finally, there will be justice for the Italian assassin and partner of ideas of one of the most corrupt governments to ever exist,” Bolsonaro tweeted in a reference to da Silva’s Workers’ Party.

Bolivia’s public defender, David Tezanos, said Battisti formally requested asylum in Bolivia on Dec. 21, but he had not received a response from the leftist government of President Evo Morales. Tezanos warned that Battisti’s rights were being violated with his hasty expulsion.

Brazil’s foreign and justice ministries said in a joint statement that Battisti “will leave Bolivia direct to Italy to serve his life sentence.” The statement was significant, since under Brazilian law people extradited to serve life sentences must have their sentences capped at 30 years – a concession Italian officials on Sunday dismissed in insisting that Battisti serve his full term.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini praised Bolivian police and Brazil’s new government for following through on the fugitive’s case. He called Battisti a “delinquent who doesn’t deserve to live comfortably on the beach but rather to finish his days in prison.”

Italian President Sergio Mattarella said Battisti should be returned to Italy to “serve his sentence for the grave crimes that stained Italy and let the same be said for all fugitives abroad.”
Italian far-left terrorist Cesare Battisti is extradited to Italy after his capture in Bolivia. Battisti was convicted of multiple murders nearly three decades ago.