Cesare Battisti, from the Proletarians Armed for Communism (PAC) group, A far-left terrorist organization that acted in the period known as the “years of lead” in Italy, has been serving a life sentence since January last year in Oristano prison, on the island of Sardinia.
Battisti was convicted of four murders committed in Italy in the late 1970s.
In March 2019, during a lengthy interrogation of the prosecutor Alberto Nobili in prison, Battisti admitted responsibility in four deaths: that of Lieutenant Antonio Santoro, assassinated in Udine on June 6, 1978; that of the jeweler Pierluigi Torregiani and the merchant Lino Sabbadin, both assassinated by the PAC on February 16, 1979, the first in Milan and the second in Mestre; and that of agent Digos Andrea Campagna, assassinated in Milan on April 19, 1978. Battisti, until then, had always declared himself innocent of the crimes.
“When he was arrested and confessed, it was a frustration. He compromised a government that had an extraordinary relationship, and still do, with the entire Italian and European left. She wouldn’t have had to lie to anyone who believed in her. The basis of truth in politics is that you don’t hurt a friend, ”Lula said.
The former president stressed that when someone commits a crime, he must tell the truth and the lawyer will know how to defend him.
“You cannot lie to your friends. Today, I think that, like me, all those on the Brazilian left who defended Cesare Battisti here were frustrated. I was disappointed. He would have no problem apologizing to the Italian left and to the families, since he committed the crimes and deceived many people in Brazil. I don’t know if he cheated on many people in France, but in fact many people thought he was innocent. We made that mistake and we owe an apology. I do not have any doubt. He lied to the good people here in Brazil who believed in him, ”he added.
He added that “I have never been with Battisti. I don’t know him personally. He never came to me, perhaps because he was not a leftist revolutionary like he wanted to be. So I kept it here because my minister [Tarso Genro] said he was innocent and had no evidence of guilt. “
The reason for the Battisti refuge in Brazil
According to former President Lula, in 2009 the then Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, made the decision to grant the status of He took refuge in Cesare Battisti because he believed in his innocence.
“All the Brazilian left, comrades and many left parties and personalities of the left asked Battisti to stay here,” he explained.
Lula stressed that his decision to grant Battisti political refugee status drew much criticism even from former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, his historical ally since 1980.
Last year Napolitano wrote a letter about the episode stating that the Brazilian promised him one thing and did another, emphasizing “the extremist side” of the Petista government.
“Even the former president of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano, with whom I had long conversations, and all that was left of Italian was pressuring me for Brazil to return Cesare Battisti. It was not an easy decision”.
Understand the Battisti case
After committing the four murders together with the PAC group, Battisti fled Italy in the 1980s and spent a long period in Mexico. His conviction for the murders came in absentia in the Italian courts.
In the 1990s, Battisti went into exile in Paris, protected by the socialist government of former President François Mitterrand (1981-1995). In 2004, the French Government authorized the extradition of the Italian terrorist to his country of origin. That same year, he fled from France to Brazil, where he remained until his arrest in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2009, the then Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, granted him the status of political refugee, but in November of the same year the Federal Supreme Court (STF) annulled his refugee status and established that the last decision on the case should be taken. by the President of the Republic.
In December 2010, on the last day of his term as president, Lula guaranteed Battisti’s stay in Brazil.
In 2018, President Michel Temer revoked refugee status. In December of the same year, the STF ordered the Italian’s arrest. Temer authorized his extradition to Italy, but Battisti fled to Bolivia, where he was arrested on January 12, 2019 and extradited to Italy the next day.
Today, Battisti, who is 65 years old, he is serving a life sentence in solitary confinement in Oristano prison.
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