Cesare Battisti (activist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other persons named Cesare Battisti, see Cesare Battisti (disambiguation).

Cesare Battisti (born in 1954) is an Italian terrorist, former member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism (Proletari Armati per il Comunismo - PAC), a far left group which supported armed struggle during Italy's "anni di piombo", as well as a writer of thrillers. He is alleged to have committed several murders in Italy, although he has always denied them. After having left behind armed struggle, Cesare Battisti became the author of several novels, including the semi-autobiographical book, The Last Bullets.

1 Biography
2 Sentences
3 A diplomatic dispute between France and Italy
4 Endnotes
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Cesare Battisti was born in 1954 at Sermoneta, near Latina. He left the classical lyceum he was attending to in 1971, to dedicate himself to social problems. Between 1974 and 1976 he was arrested for theft more than once.

In 1976 he moved to Milan. In this year, it's believed that he founded with his group of friends the PAC, a clandestine terrorist organisations as many others during the "anni di piombo". The organisation had its roots in a district of the south of Milan, called Barona. To PAC, in Italy, are nowadays attribuited several murders, kidnapping and robberies.

[edit] Sentences

Cesare Battisti was arrested and jailed in Italy on February 26, 1979. In 1981, while he was in Frosinone's prison, he managed to escape to France, where he was granted asylum by president François Mitterrand. Mitterrand had given his word that leftist Italian activists whom had broken with their past would not be extradited to Italy.

Battisti's trial ended in absentia in 1985 and he was given a life-sentence under many charges, among which there are four murders. He was charged with the murder of Pierluigi Torreggiani, a jeweler, of Lino Sabbadin, a butcher and supporter of the Italian Social Movement, both having occurred on February 16, 1979, of Antonio Santoro, a policeman, killed on June 6, 1978, and of Andrea Campagna, a DIGOS agent, murdered on April 19, 1978. The victims are among the usual targets of Communist groups involved in armed struggle: they were policemen or supporters of opposed parties. In this case, it is thought that the executions of Torreggiani and Sabbadin have been decided because both of them had killed a robber in the past. Torreggiani was killed in front of his 13 years old son, who was shot as well. The son survived and is now paraplegic. The matter of who shot Torreggiani's son is still debated: the media reported the he was shot by the terrorists, some sources state that he was shot by his father in a tragical error.

In 1991, the sentence was confirmed in the Corte di Cassazione, the last resort of justice in Italy. Cesare Battisti still denies having carried on any of the murderers he has been sentenced for.

Battisti escaped to Paris, but left for Puerto Escondido, Mexico, very shortly afterwards. While in Mexico, he founded a newspaper Via Libre, which is still active nowadays. In 1990 he went back to Paris, where he was arrested; however, as France had denied his extradition to Italy, he was again set free.

In 1997, among other refugees of the lead years in France, he asked for an amnesty for their crimes to Italy's President of The Republic of the time, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. The request was denied.

[edit] A diplomatic dispute between France and Italy

Over the years, Italy asked several times to France to arrest and extradite the refugees. On September 11, 2002 Battisti was again requested for extradition - among others - during the meeting in Paris between Italy's Minister of Justice Roberto Castelli and France's Minister Dominique Perben.

In February 2004, under Jacques Chirac's presidency, the French government had him arrested and was planning to extradite him to Italy. However, Battisti failed to check in at the local police station on August 21, 2004 and is thought to have fled the country.

Defenders of Battisti, among whom the Human Rights League (LDH), recall that the European Court of Human Rights uphold a right to a new judgment in case of judgment in absentia, as in Battisti's case, which the Italian law does not allow. For this reason, France refused to extradite not only Battisti, but even others: in 1998, for example, Bordeaux's appeal court had judged that Sergio Tornaghi could not be extradited to Italy, on the grounds that Italian procedure would not let Sergio Tornaghi be judged again, after a controversed trial during his absence. Others argue that Battisti had the chanche to defend himself during his 1985 trial, but he chose to escape.

In July 2005, the Italian press revealed the existence of the Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies (DSSA), a "parallel police" created by Gaetano Saya and Riccardo Sindoca, two leaders of the National Union of the Police Forces (Unpf). Both claimed they were former members of Gladio, NATO's "stay-behind" paramilitary organizations involved in Italy's strategy of tension and various terrorist acts. According to judicial sources, Il Messaggero, quoted by The Independent, declared that wiretaps suggested DSSA members had been planning to kidnap Cesare Battisti ^[1].