Cesare Battisti (activist)
Encyclopedia
Cesare Battisti is a former member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism
, a far-left militant
group which committed acts of terrorism
in Italy during the period known as "anni di piombo". Sentenced for 4 homicides (2 policemen, 1 jeweler and 1 butcher) to life sentence in Italy After he flew to France and Mexico became a fiction author, writing 15 books.
Battisti was sentenced to 12 years under the charge of participating in an armed group and of the material killing of 2 people and being the mandate for other 2 homicieds. He fled to France
, where he received protection under the Mitterrand doctrine
. Later, he was tried in absentia
based on testimony in Pietro Mutti's trial implicating him in four assassinations, bringing the total of charges against him to 36. He was given a sentence of life in prison. After the de facto repeal of the Mitterrand doctrine in 2002, Battisti fled to Brazil
to avoid a possible extradition.
He was arrested in Rio de Janeiro
on 18 March 2007 by Brazilian and French police officers. Later, Brazilian Minister of Justice Tarso Genro
granted him the status of political refugee, in a controversial decision which was much criticized in Italy, whereas divided Brazilian and international press opinion. On 5 February 2009, the European Parliament
adopted a resolution in support of Italy and held a minute of silence in memory to Battisti's victims. On 18 November 2009, the Brazilian Supreme Court considered the refugee status illegal and allowed extradition
, but also stated that the Brazilian constitution gives the president personal powers to deny the extradition if he chooses to, effectively putting the final decision in the hands of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
. On 31 December 2010, Lula's last effective day as president, the decision not to allow extradition was officially announced.
Battisti was released on 9 June 2011 from prison
after the Brazilian Constitutional Court denied Italy's request to extradite him. Italy plans to appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
, near Latina. He left the classical lyceum he was attending in 1971, engaged in petty crime, and then moved on to more serious offenses.
In 1976 he moved to Milan
, and took part in activities of the PAC, an autonomist Marxist group which conducted armed struggle, and which had a "horizontal", decentralized structure, opposed to the centralist organisation of the Red Brigades
(BR). The organisation, which counted approximately 60 members, had its roots in a district in southern Milan, called Barona.
Four assassinations were committed by the PAC: Antonio Santoro, a prison guard accused by the PAC of mistreatment of prisoners (on June 6, 1978 in Udine
), jeweler Pierluigi Torregiani (on February 16, 1979 in Milan), Lino Sabadin, a butcher (on the same date, near Mestre
), and DIGOS
agent Andrea Campagna, who had participated in the first arrests in the Torregiani case (on April 19, 1979 in Milan). The PAC also engaged in several robberies.
The murder of Torregiani and Sabbadin had been decided by the PAC because both of them had killed a robber-terrorist in the past, thus as an act of armed opposition to self-defense by attacked persons. Torregiani was killed as revenge in front of his 13-year-old son, who was also shot by his father as a result of a tragic error. The paraplegic Torregiani considers now that, in any case, Battisti is responsible for the shooting, and should serve his sentence in jail: "It's not about the person of Cesare Battisti - he declared to the national press agency ANSA - It's in order that everyone understands that, sooner or later, those who have committed such serious crimes should pay for their faults".
Cesare Battisti has stated in several texts that he abandoned political violence after Prime Minister Aldo Moro
's kidnapping and subsequent murder in May 1978, allegedly carried out by the Second Red Brigades led by Mario Moretti
(but possibly by Operation Gladio
, NATO's stay-behind forces in Italy).
provided by two "collaboratori di giustizia" (defendants who testified against their former accomplice) who benefitted from lighter condemnations for their testimony. The status of "collaboratore di giustizia", also popularly known as pentito, was established by anti-terrorist legislation enacted during this period.
PAC members organised his escape on October 4, 1981, while he was in Frosinone
prison. Battisti fled to Paris
, and then for Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico
, very shortly afterward. While in Mexico, he founded a literary review Via Libre, which is still active. He also participated in the creation of the Book Festival of Managua
(Nicaragua), and organised the first Graphic Arts Biennal in Mexico. Cesare Battisti began to write at the suggestion of Paco Ignacio Taibo II
, and collaborated with various newspapers.
for the assassination of prison surveillant Santoro, was arrested in 1982. He sought the status of "collaboratore di giustizia" and his testimony, which helped him reduce his sentence, implicated Battisti (and an accomplice), in the four assassinations claimed by the PAC. Battisti's trial was thus reopened in 1987, and he was sentenced in absentia in 1988 for two assassinations (Santoro and DIGOS agent Campagna) and complicity of murder in the two other (jeweler Torregiani and butcher Sabbadin). The court sentenced him, in appeal, to a life-sentence in 1995. Two years before, the Court of Cassation
had quashed, on procedural grounds, the case against Battisti's accomplice, accused by Pietro Mutti.
, Valerio Evangelisti Repond À 50 Questions
Two of the assassinations occurred on February 16, 1979, one at Milan at 15h, and the other in Mestre, 270 km away from Milan, at 16h50. Battisti was sentenced for materially committing the first assassination, and for planning the second one.
had indicated that "leftist Italian activists who were not indicted for violent crimes and had given up terrorist activity would not be extradited
to Italy"; this became known as the "Mitterrand doctrine
". Many Italian political activists had fled to France during the '70s-'80s. Trusting in this declaration, Battisti returned to France in 1990, where he was arrested on Italy's request in 1991, when his sentence was confirmed in the Court of Cassation. He thus passed five months in Fresnes prison
, and then was freed after the extradition request was rejected by the Paris Appeal Court on May 29, 1991. French justice concluded that the anti-terrorist legislation enacted in Italy "went against the French principles of law," which, along with the European Court of Human Rights
(ECtHR), prohibited in particular to extradite a person sentenced in absentia if that person had not been in a condition to adequately defend himself during his trial. The court also defined the evidences held against Battisti as "contradictory" and "worthy of a military justice."
After his release in 1991, Battisti lived in Paris, where he wrote his first novel, Les Habits d'ombre ("Shadow clothes"). Two thrillers, L'Ombre rouge ("Red shadow") and Buena onda, took as backdrop the Parisian world of Italian fugitives from justice. Another major novel, titled Dernières cartouches ("Last bullets"), takes place in Italy during the "years of lead".
In 1997, jointly with other left-wing Italians who had fled to France and were accused of taking part in violent crimes, he asked without success the President of Italy at the time, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
(DC
) for an amnesty
.
Roberto Castelli
and France's Minister of Justice
Dominique Perben
.
was filed against this opinion and another recourse introduced before the Conseil d'État against the extradition decree
. President Jacques Chirac stated on July 2, 2004 that he would not oppose French justice's decision to extradite him. Perben confirmed Paris' new position: "There is no ambiguity. There has been a change of attitude from France, and I support it," (in reference to the "Mitterrand doctrine"), among other reasons "because of the European construction".
As of 2007, only Paolo Persichetti, former member of the Unità Comuniste Combattenti, among the 200 Italians involved in Court cases dealing with political violence requested by Italy, was extradited (in August 2002). He was eventually sentenced to 22 years of prison. Minister Edouard Balladur
had signed Persichetti's extradition decree in 1994; it was validated by the Conseil d'Etat the following year. According to RFI radio station
, the Perben-Castelli agreement was divided in three parts: all events before 1982 would be prescribed
"except in case of exceptional gravity"; facts between 1982 and 1993 would be "examined on a case by case basis", in function of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) principle and of the "conditions in which the trials took place in Italy".
Still claiming his innocence, Cesare Battisti failed to check in at the local police station, while on parole, on August 21, 2004 and went under.
On March 18, 2005, the French Conseil d'Etat (the French Supreme Court in administrative law), ruling ultimately for Battisti's extradition, affirmed clearly that the Italian legislation did not conflict with the French principles of law. The Conseil established that:
ECtHR, then, confirmed those decisions and ruled that the Italian trial in absentia in Battisti's case was fair under its provisions.
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
, leader of Destra Nazionale neofascist party, 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 organization involved in Italy's strategy of tension
and various alleged activist acts. According to Il Messaggero
, quoted by The Independent
, judicial sources declared that wiretaps suggested DSSA members had been planning to kidnap Cesare Battisti.
On 5 February 2005, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which it expressed its trust "that the re-examination of the decision on the extradition of Cesare Battisti will take into account the judgment delivered by an EU Member State in full compliance with the principle of the rule of law in the European Union"
The European Court of Human Rights
(ECtHR), in its December 2006 decision, rejected Battisti's claim that France's extradition decision was illegitimate. The Court considered that:
and was arrested in Rio de Janeiro
on March 18, 2007.
After that the government of Brazil granted Cesare Battisti the status of political refugee through a decision of its Minister of Justice Tarso Genro
. Battisti's request for asylum was first denied by the National Committee for Refugees, in a decision taken by simple majority. His defense appealed to the Minister of Justice, who granted in January 2009 refugee status, a decision which divided Brazilian public opinion. Refugee status, however, halts the request for extradition, which is being considered by the Brazilian Supreme Court.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano
wrote to Brazilian President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
, informing him of the "emotion and understandable reactions" raised in his country, in public opinion and among political forces, by this "grave decision". Italian Justice Minister, Angelino Alfano, has asked Brazilian authorities to reconsider this decision, "in the light of international cooperation against terrorism". Lula answered Napolitano mentioning that Genro's decision is founded on the Brazilian constitution and on the UN 1951 Convention on Refugee Status, and is an act of sovereignty of Brazil.
Criticism was also based on speculations about the influence exerted by Carla Bruni
, spouse of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy
, on Genro's decision. Brazilian Senator Eduardo Suplicy
attested to Corriere della Sera
that Bruni herself asked Lula to refuge Battisti. Bruni denied this claim on a RAI
interview as she expressed her condolences with the families of Battisti's victims.
Controversy surrounded Genro's decision on granting refugee status to Battisti. Many law specialists have spoken saying that the decision was illegal. The Brazilian Supreme Court started trying the case in September 2009. By 5 votes to 4 (simple majority), the court ruled Genro's decision null and void on 18 November. But the court also decided by 5 votes to 4 on the interpretation that the Brazilian constitution gives the president of the executive branch personal powers to deny the extradition if he choses to, effectively putting the final decision in the hands of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
.
On the 29th December 2010, unofficial reports in Italy and Brazil said President Lula was about to announce he had denied the extradition of Battisti, just 3 days short of ending his presidential mandate. The official announcement took place on December 31, hours before the end of Lula's mandate.
On June 8, 2011, the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that Lula's decision regarding the non-extradition of Battisti is final.
Italian authorities announced their intention to appeal to Hague international court against Brazil for breaching the extradition treaty
, Valerio Evangelisti
and Bernard-Henri Lévy
consider that the trials conducted in Italy were marked by irregularities. These alleged irregularities involved the use of torture
(Battisti's French lawyers have not used this peculiar charge, the violation of article 3 ECHR, in their rejected claim to ECtHR), and the misuse of witnesses: according to Battisti's supporters, witnesses against Battisti were either affected by mental troubles, or were "collaboratori di giustizia", (that is, defendants testifying against other defendants in order to benefit from a reduced sentence. Those peculiar witnesses are also used by French justice, i.e. art. 132-78 French Code Penal). Battisti's supporters also claim that ballistic analysis and graphological expertises used in Italian court cases do in fact, contrary to what the Courts considered, exonerate Battisti.
, « Cesare Battisti: A la recherche de la justice perdue » in La Règle du Jeu, n°30 (January 2006)
Most of public opinion in Italy disagrees with those views, and Battisti's arrest in Brazil has been commented upon favourably in the media. Rifondazione Comunista
, however, considers that he should not be extradited, as he would not be granted the right to a new trial. In France, supporters of Battisti, such as Gilles Perrault
, have called this arrest, a few weeks before the April 2007 presidential election
, an "electoral feat," closely timed by the then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy
, candidate for the UMP
conservative party. François Bayrou
, candidate for the UDF
right-of-center party, has called for a new trial, as have members of the left-wing.
Defenders of Battisti, among whom the Human Rights League
(LDH), consider that France's decision to extradite Battisti was illegal, since Battisti would not have the right to a new trial, after having been judged in absentia.
But the alleged right to a new trial is not a sufficient guarantee for the defendant, as clearly ruled the ECtHR in the case of Krombach v. France, application no. 29731/96, and also article 6 of ECHR, the juridical ground of Battisti's claim against extradition, doesn't prescribe a new trial. ECHR establishes that there is not an absolute right to a new trial, after a trial in absentia. Battisti's claim concerned the defendant's knowledge of the trial, and Battisti's lawyers argued that the defendant had not been in a position to know that in Italy there was a trial against him and so his rights had been violated.
The Union syndicale des magistrats
(USM, the largest trade union of French judges) has supported the fairness of the Italian trial in absentia and has also confirmed the legality of Battisti’s condemnation:
Armed Proletarians for Communism
Armed Proletarians for Communism was an Italian far-left armed group founded in 1976 and disbanded three years later, during the "Years of Lead ."- History :...
, a far-left militant
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
group which committed acts of terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
in Italy during the period known as "anni di piombo". Sentenced for 4 homicides (2 policemen, 1 jeweler and 1 butcher) to life sentence in Italy After he flew to France and Mexico became a fiction author, writing 15 books.
Battisti was sentenced to 12 years under the charge of participating in an armed group and of the material killing of 2 people and being the mandate for other 2 homicieds. He fled to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where he received protection under the Mitterrand doctrine
Mitterrand doctrine
The Mitterrand doctrine was a policy established in 1985 by French president François Mitterrand concerning Italian far-left terrorists who fled to France: those convicted for violent acts in Italy, but excluding "active, actual, bloody terrorism" during the "Years of Lead" would not be extradited...
. Later, he was tried in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
based on testimony in Pietro Mutti's trial implicating him in four assassinations, bringing the total of charges against him to 36. He was given a sentence of life in prison. After the de facto repeal of the Mitterrand doctrine in 2002, Battisti fled to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
to avoid a possible extradition.
He was arrested in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
on 18 March 2007 by Brazilian and French police officers. Later, Brazilian Minister of Justice Tarso Genro
Tarso Genro
Tarso Fernando Herz Genro is a Brazilian politician, and a member of the Workers' Party . As a result of the Mensalão scandal, Genro served the remainder of José Genoíno's term as party president in 2005...
granted him the status of political refugee, in a controversial decision which was much criticized in Italy, whereas divided Brazilian and international press opinion. On 5 February 2009, the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
adopted a resolution in support of Italy and held a minute of silence in memory to Battisti's victims. On 18 November 2009, the Brazilian Supreme Court considered the refugee status illegal and allowed extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
, but also stated that the Brazilian constitution gives the president personal powers to deny the extradition if he chooses to, effectively putting the final decision in the hands of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...
. On 31 December 2010, Lula's last effective day as president, the decision not to allow extradition was officially announced.
Battisti was released on 9 June 2011 from prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
after the Brazilian Constitutional Court denied Italy's request to extradite him. Italy plans to appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Youth and PAC membership
Cesare Battisti was born in 1954 at SermonetaSermoneta
Sermoneta is a hill town and comune in the province of Latina , central Italy.It is a walled hill town, with a 13th-century Romanesque cathedral called Cathedral of S. Maria Assunta and a massive castle, built by the Caetani family. The Cistercian Valvisciolo Abbey is located nearby...
, near Latina. He left the classical lyceum he was attending in 1971, engaged in petty crime, and then moved on to more serious offenses.
In 1976 he moved to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, and took part in activities of the PAC, an autonomist Marxist group which conducted armed struggle, and which had a "horizontal", decentralized structure, opposed to the centralist organisation of the Red Brigades
Red Brigades
The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...
(BR). The organisation, which counted approximately 60 members, had its roots in a district in southern Milan, called Barona.
Four assassinations were committed by the PAC: Antonio Santoro, a prison guard accused by the PAC of mistreatment of prisoners (on June 6, 1978 in Udine
Udine
Udine is a city and comune in northeastern Italy, in the middle of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic sea and the Alps , less than 40 km from the Slovenian border. Its population was 99,439 in 2009, and that of its urban area was 175,000.- History :Udine is the historical...
), jeweler Pierluigi Torregiani (on February 16, 1979 in Milan), Lino Sabadin, a butcher (on the same date, near Mestre
Mestre
Mestre is a city part of the comune of Venice, in Veneto, northern Italy.The city is connected to Venice by a large rail and road bridge, called Ponte della Libertà ....
), and DIGOS
DIGOS
The General Investigations and Special Operations Division , mainly known with its acronym DIGOS, is an Italian law enforcement agency, charged with investigating sensitive cases relating to terrorism, organized crime and serious offences such as kidnapping and extortion.It is a special operative...
agent Andrea Campagna, who had participated in the first arrests in the Torregiani case (on April 19, 1979 in Milan). The PAC also engaged in several robberies.
The murder of Torregiani and Sabbadin had been decided by the PAC because both of them had killed a robber-terrorist in the past, thus as an act of armed opposition to self-defense by attacked persons. Torregiani was killed as revenge in front of his 13-year-old son, who was also shot by his father as a result of a tragic error. The paraplegic Torregiani considers now that, in any case, Battisti is responsible for the shooting, and should serve his sentence in jail: "It's not about the person of Cesare Battisti - he declared to the national press agency ANSA - It's in order that everyone understands that, sooner or later, those who have committed such serious crimes should pay for their faults".
Cesare Battisti has stated in several texts that he abandoned political violence after Prime Minister Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro
Aldo Moro was an Italian politician and the 39th Prime Minister of Italy, from 1963 to 1968, and then from 1974 to 1976. He was one of Italy's longest-serving post-war Prime Ministers, holding power for a combined total of more than six years....
's kidnapping and subsequent murder in May 1978, allegedly carried out by the Second Red Brigades led by Mario Moretti
Mario Moretti
Mario Moretti is an Italian former terrorist. A leading member of the Red Brigades in the late 1970s, he was one of the kidnappers of Aldo Moro, president of Italy's largest party, Democrazia Cristiana, and several times premier, in 1978; he later confessed to have been the one who killed the...
(but possibly by Operation Gladio
Operation Gladio
Operation Gladio is the codename for a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II. Its purpose was to continue anti-communist actions in the event of a shift to a Communist party led government...
, NATO's stay-behind forces in Italy).
First trial and escape
Cesare Battisti was arrested and jailed in Italy on February 26, 1979, sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison for participation in an "armed group" ("partecipazione a banda armata"). He was sentenced on the ground of material evidence and testimoniesTestimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
provided by two "collaboratori di giustizia" (defendants who testified against their former accomplice) who benefitted from lighter condemnations for their testimony. The status of "collaboratore di giustizia", also popularly known as pentito, was established by anti-terrorist legislation enacted during this period.
PAC members organised his escape on October 4, 1981, while he was in Frosinone
Frosinone
Frosinone is a town and comune in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the Province of Frosinone. It is located about 75 km south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples Autostrada A1...
prison. Battisti fled to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and then for Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, very shortly afterward. While in Mexico, he founded a literary review Via Libre, which is still active. He also participated in the creation of the Book Festival of Managua
Managua
Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
(Nicaragua), and organised the first Graphic Arts Biennal in Mexico. Cesare Battisti began to write at the suggestion of Paco Ignacio Taibo II
Paco Ignacio Taibo II
Paco Ignacio Taibo II , is a Mexican writer and novelist....
, and collaborated with various newspapers.
Second trial
Pietro Mutti, one of the leaders of the PAC who had been sentenced in absentiaIn absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
for the assassination of prison surveillant Santoro, was arrested in 1982. He sought the status of "collaboratore di giustizia" and his testimony, which helped him reduce his sentence, implicated Battisti (and an accomplice), in the four assassinations claimed by the PAC. Battisti's trial was thus reopened in 1987, and he was sentenced in absentia in 1988 for two assassinations (Santoro and DIGOS agent Campagna) and complicity of murder in the two other (jeweler Torregiani and butcher Sabbadin). The court sentenced him, in appeal, to a life-sentence in 1995. Two years before, the Court of Cassation
Court of Cassation (Italy)
The Supreme Court of Cassation is the major court of last resort in Italy. It has its seat in the Rome Hall of Justice.The Court of Cassation exists also to “ensure the observation and the correct interpretation of law” by ensuring the same application of law in the inferior and appeal courts...
had quashed, on procedural grounds, the case against Battisti's accomplice, accused by Pietro Mutti.
Valerio Evangelisti
Valerio Evangelisti is one of the most popular Italian writers of science fiction, fantasy, historical novels and horror. He is known mainly for his series of novels featuring the inquistor Nicolas Eymerich and for the Nostradamus trilogy, all bestsellers translated into many languages...
, Valerio Evangelisti Repond À 50 Questions
Two of the assassinations occurred on February 16, 1979, one at Milan at 15h, and the other in Mestre, 270 km away from Milan, at 16h50. Battisti was sentenced for materially committing the first assassination, and for planning the second one.
Battisti's return to France
Ten years earlier, in 1985, the President of France François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
had indicated that "leftist Italian activists who were not indicted for violent crimes and had given up terrorist activity would not be extradited
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
to Italy"; this became known as the "Mitterrand doctrine
Mitterrand doctrine
The Mitterrand doctrine was a policy established in 1985 by French president François Mitterrand concerning Italian far-left terrorists who fled to France: those convicted for violent acts in Italy, but excluding "active, actual, bloody terrorism" during the "Years of Lead" would not be extradited...
". Many Italian political activists had fled to France during the '70s-'80s. Trusting in this declaration, Battisti returned to France in 1990, where he was arrested on Italy's request in 1991, when his sentence was confirmed in the Court of Cassation. He thus passed five months in Fresnes prison
Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne South of Paris...
, and then was freed after the extradition request was rejected by the Paris Appeal Court on May 29, 1991. French justice concluded that the anti-terrorist legislation enacted in Italy "went against the French principles of law," which, along with the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
(ECtHR), prohibited in particular to extradite a person sentenced in absentia if that person had not been in a condition to adequately defend himself during his trial. The court also defined the evidences held against Battisti as "contradictory" and "worthy of a military justice."
After his release in 1991, Battisti lived in Paris, where he wrote his first novel, Les Habits d'ombre ("Shadow clothes"). Two thrillers, L'Ombre rouge ("Red shadow") and Buena onda, took as backdrop the Parisian world of Italian fugitives from justice. Another major novel, titled Dernières cartouches ("Last bullets"), takes place in Italy during the "years of lead".
In 1997, jointly with other left-wing Italians who had fled to France and were accused of taking part in violent crimes, he asked without success the President of Italy at the time, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro , Italian politician and magistrate, was the ninth President of the Italian Republic from 1992 to 1999, and is currently a senator for life...
(DC
Christian Democracy (Italy)
Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....
) for an amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
.
A diplomatic dispute between France and Italy
Over the years, Italy asked France several times to arrest and extradite left-wing Italians involved in court cases connected with political violence in Italy and who had fled to France. On September 11, 2002 the extradition of Battisti and others was again requested during the meeting in Paris between Italy's Minister of JusticeItalian Minister of Justice
This is a list of Italian Ministers of Justice since 1946.-External links:* *...
Roberto Castelli
Roberto Castelli
Roberto Castelli is an Italian politician. He was the Minister of Justice in the third Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi, he is a Senator and one of the main representatives of Lega Nord.- Career :...
and France's Minister of Justice
Minister of Justice (France)
The Ministry of Justice is controlled by the French Minister of Justice , a top-level cabinet position in the French government. The current Minister of Justice is Michel Mercier...
Dominique Perben
Dominique Perben
Dominique Perben is a French politician. Born in Lyon, he was French Minister of Transportation from 2005 to 2007. He was previously Minister of Justice , Minister of Civil Service and Administration and Minister of Overseas France .Perben has been a Deputy in the National Assembly for the fifth...
.
Arrest in France
On February 10, 2004, the French government arrested Battisti on Italy's request and planned to extradite him to Italy. On June 30, 2004, the Paris Court of Appeal gave a favorable opinion for his extradition. An appeals in the Court of CassationCourt of Cassation (France)
The French Supreme Court of Judicature is France's court of last resort having jurisdiction over all matters triable in the judicial stream but only scope of review to determine a miscarriage of justice or certify a question of law based solely on points of law...
was filed against this opinion and another recourse introduced before the Conseil d'État against the extradition decree
Decree
A decree is a rule of law issued by a head of state , according to certain procedures . It has the force of law...
. President Jacques Chirac stated on July 2, 2004 that he would not oppose French justice's decision to extradite him. Perben confirmed Paris' new position: "There is no ambiguity. There has been a change of attitude from France, and I support it," (in reference to the "Mitterrand doctrine"), among other reasons "because of the European construction".
As of 2007, only Paolo Persichetti, former member of the Unità Comuniste Combattenti, among the 200 Italians involved in Court cases dealing with political violence requested by Italy, was extradited (in August 2002). He was eventually sentenced to 22 years of prison. Minister Edouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 29 March 1993 to 10 May 1995.-Biography:Balladur was born in İzmir, Turkey, to an Armenian Catholic family with five children and long-standing ties to France...
had signed Persichetti's extradition decree in 1994; it was validated by the Conseil d'Etat the following year. According to RFI radio station
Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale was created in 1975 as part of Radio France by the Government of France, and replaced the Poste Colonial , Paris Mondial , Radio Paris , RTF Radio Paris and ORTF Radio Paris...
, the Perben-Castelli agreement was divided in three parts: all events before 1982 would be prescribed
Medical prescription
A prescription is a health-care program implemented by a physician or other medical practitioner in the form of instructions that govern the plan of care for an individual patient. Prescriptions may include orders to be performed by a patient, caretaker, nurse, pharmacist or other therapist....
"except in case of exceptional gravity"; facts between 1982 and 1993 would be "examined on a case by case basis", in function of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) principle and of the "conditions in which the trials took place in Italy".
Still claiming his innocence, Cesare Battisti failed to check in at the local police station, while on parole, on August 21, 2004 and went under.
On March 18, 2005, the French Conseil d'Etat (the French Supreme Court in administrative law), ruling ultimately for Battisti's extradition, affirmed clearly that the Italian legislation did not conflict with the French principles of law. The Conseil established that:
the circumstance that some of the charges held against Mr Battisti, which led to the cited sentences, are partly based on statements by "repented" witnesses, is not contrary to French public order and does not constitute an infringement by Italian authorities of the requirements of Article 6 of the European Human Rights and fundamental liberties safeguard convention (...).
ECtHR, then, confirmed those decisions and ruled that the Italian trial in absentia in Battisti's case was fair under its provisions.
In July 2005, the Italian press revealed the existence of the Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies
Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies
The Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies is an Italian organization reported to have been set up in 2004 and under investigation since July 2005 .- DSSA activities :...
(DSSA), a "parallel police" created by Gaetano Saya
Gaetano Saya
Gaetano Saya is a far right Italian politician, leader of the National Right neo-fascist party.Saya has claimed he was a former member of Gladio, NATO's stay-behind anti-Communist network during the Cold War, involved in Italy's strategy of tension during the "Years of Lead."Gaetano Saya was...
, leader of Destra Nazionale neofascist party, 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 organization involved in Italy's strategy of tension
Strategy of tension
The strategy of tension is a theory that describes how to divide, manipulate, and control public opinion using fear, propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare, agents provocateurs, and false flag terrorist actions....
and various alleged activist acts. According to Il Messaggero
Il Messaggero
Il Messaggero is an Italian newspaper based in Rome, Italy, founded in 1878.It is owned by the Italian publishing company Caltagirone Editore, and its leaders include Azzurra Caltagirone, the partner of the political leader Pierferdinando Casini, on its board...
, quoted by The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, judicial sources declared that wiretaps suggested DSSA members had been planning to kidnap Cesare Battisti.
On 5 February 2005, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which it expressed its trust "that the re-examination of the decision on the extradition of Cesare Battisti will take into account the judgment delivered by an EU Member State in full compliance with the principle of the rule of law in the European Union"
The European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
(ECtHR), in its December 2006 decision, rejected Battisti's claim that France's extradition decision was illegitimate. The Court considered that:
The applicant had patently been informed of the accusation against him and of the progress of the proceedings before the Italian courts, notwithstanding the fact that he had absconded. Furthermore, the applicant, who had deliberately chosen to remain on the run after escaping from prison, had received effective assistance during the proceedings from several lawyers specially appointed by him. Hence, the Italian and subsequently the French authorities had been entitled to conclude that the applicant had unequivocally waived his right to appear and be tried in person. The French authorities had therefore taken due account of all the circumstances of the case and of the Court’s case-law in granting the extradition request made by the Italian authorities: manifestly ill-founded.
Asylum in Brazil
Battisti fled to BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and was arrested in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
on March 18, 2007.
After that the government of Brazil granted Cesare Battisti the status of political refugee through a decision of its Minister of Justice Tarso Genro
Tarso Genro
Tarso Fernando Herz Genro is a Brazilian politician, and a member of the Workers' Party . As a result of the Mensalão scandal, Genro served the remainder of José Genoíno's term as party president in 2005...
. Battisti's request for asylum was first denied by the National Committee for Refugees, in a decision taken by simple majority. His defense appealed to the Minister of Justice, who granted in January 2009 refugee status, a decision which divided Brazilian public opinion. Refugee status, however, halts the request for extradition, which is being considered by the Brazilian Supreme Court.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano
Giorgio Napolitano
Giorgio Napolitano is an Italian politician who has been the 11th President of Italy since 2006. A long-time member of the Italian Communist Party and later the Democrats of the Left, he served as President of the Chamber of Deputies from 1992 to 1994 and as Minister of the Interior from 1996 to...
wrote to Brazilian President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...
, informing him of the "emotion and understandable reactions" raised in his country, in public opinion and among political forces, by this "grave decision". Italian Justice Minister, Angelino Alfano, has asked Brazilian authorities to reconsider this decision, "in the light of international cooperation against terrorism". Lula answered Napolitano mentioning that Genro's decision is founded on the Brazilian constitution and on the UN 1951 Convention on Refugee Status, and is an act of sovereignty of Brazil.
Criticism was also based on speculations about the influence exerted by Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is an Italian-French songwriter, singer, actress, and former model...
, spouse of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, on Genro's decision. Brazilian Senator Eduardo Suplicy
Eduardo Suplicy
Eduardo Matarazzo Suplicy is a Brazilian left-wing politician, economist and professor. He is one of the founders and main political figures on the Workers Party of Brazil .-Biography:...
attested to Corriere della Sera
Corriere della Sera
The Corriere della Sera is an Italian daily newspaper, published in Milan.It is among the oldest and most reputable Italian newspapers. Its main rivals are Rome's La Repubblica and Turin's La Stampa.- History :...
that Bruni herself asked Lula to refuge Battisti. Bruni denied this claim on a RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
interview as she expressed her condolences with the families of Battisti's victims.
Controversy surrounded Genro's decision on granting refugee status to Battisti. Many law specialists have spoken saying that the decision was illegal. The Brazilian Supreme Court started trying the case in September 2009. By 5 votes to 4 (simple majority), the court ruled Genro's decision null and void on 18 November. But the court also decided by 5 votes to 4 on the interpretation that the Brazilian constitution gives the president of the executive branch personal powers to deny the extradition if he choses to, effectively putting the final decision in the hands of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva , known popularly as Lula, served as the 35th President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.A founding member of the Workers' Party , he ran for President three times unsuccessfully, first in the 1989 election. Lula achieved victory in the 2002 election, and was inaugurated as...
.
On the 29th December 2010, unofficial reports in Italy and Brazil said President Lula was about to announce he had denied the extradition of Battisti, just 3 days short of ending his presidential mandate. The official announcement took place on December 31, hours before the end of Lula's mandate.
On June 8, 2011, the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled that Lula's decision regarding the non-extradition of Battisti is final.
Italian authorities announced their intention to appeal to Hague international court against Brazil for breaching the extradition treaty
Public opinion
Cesare Battisti denied having committed any of the murders he has been sentenced for. The circumstances of his sentence have been put in question. A movement claiming Battisti's innocence is active in the media and in public opinion (especially in France). Among the most vocal supporters of Battisti, writers Fred VargasFred Vargas
Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of the French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau . Her crime fiction policiers have won three International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association, for three successive novels: in 2006, 2008 and 2009. She is the first author to...
, Valerio Evangelisti
Valerio Evangelisti
Valerio Evangelisti is one of the most popular Italian writers of science fiction, fantasy, historical novels and horror. He is known mainly for his series of novels featuring the inquistor Nicolas Eymerich and for the Nostradamus trilogy, all bestsellers translated into many languages...
and Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy is a French public intellectual, philosopher and journalist. Often referred to today, in France, simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" movement in 1976.-Early life:...
consider that the trials conducted in Italy were marked by irregularities. These alleged irregularities involved the use of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
(Battisti's French lawyers have not used this peculiar charge, the violation of article 3 ECHR, in their rejected claim to ECtHR), and the misuse of witnesses: according to Battisti's supporters, witnesses against Battisti were either affected by mental troubles, or were "collaboratori di giustizia", (that is, defendants testifying against other defendants in order to benefit from a reduced sentence. Those peculiar witnesses are also used by French justice, i.e. art. 132-78 French Code Penal). Battisti's supporters also claim that ballistic analysis and graphological expertises used in Italian court cases do in fact, contrary to what the Courts considered, exonerate Battisti.
Fred Vargas
Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of the French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau . Her crime fiction policiers have won three International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association, for three successive novels: in 2006, 2008 and 2009. She is the first author to...
, « Cesare Battisti: A la recherche de la justice perdue » in La Règle du Jeu, n°30 (January 2006)
Most of public opinion in Italy disagrees with those views, and Battisti's arrest in Brazil has been commented upon favourably in the media. Rifondazione Comunista
Communist Refoundation Party
The Communist Refoundation Party is a communist Italian political party. Its current secretary is Paolo Ferrero....
, however, considers that he should not be extradited, as he would not be granted the right to a new trial. In France, supporters of Battisti, such as Gilles Perrault
Gilles Perrault
Gilles Perrault is a left-wing French writer and journalist.He attended the Collège Stanislas de Paris and then studied at the Institut d'études politiques, eventually becoming a lawyer, a profession he worked in for five years....
, have called this arrest, a few weeks before the April 2007 presidential election
French presidential election, 2007
The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France for a five-year term.The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy...
, an "electoral feat," closely timed by the then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, candidate for the UMP
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
conservative party. François Bayrou
François Bayrou
François Bayrou is a French centrist politician, president of Union for French Democracy since 1998 and was a candidate in the 2002 and 2007 French presidential elections. In the first round, he received 18.6% of the vote, finishing in 3rd place and therefore was eliminated from the race....
, candidate for the UDF
Union for French Democracy
The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...
right-of-center party, has called for a new trial, as have members of the left-wing.
Defenders of Battisti, among whom the Human Rights League
Human Rights League (France)
The Human Rights League of France, is a Human Rights NGO founded on 4 June 1898 by the republican Ludovic Trarieux to defend captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew wrongly convicted for treason - this would be known as the Dreyfus Affair...
(LDH), consider that France's decision to extradite Battisti was illegal, since Battisti would not have the right to a new trial, after having been judged in absentia.
But the alleged right to a new trial is not a sufficient guarantee for the defendant, as clearly ruled the ECtHR in the case of Krombach v. France, application no. 29731/96, and also article 6 of ECHR, the juridical ground of Battisti's claim against extradition, doesn't prescribe a new trial. ECHR establishes that there is not an absolute right to a new trial, after a trial in absentia. Battisti's claim concerned the defendant's knowledge of the trial, and Battisti's lawyers argued that the defendant had not been in a position to know that in Italy there was a trial against him and so his rights had been violated.
The Union syndicale des magistrats
Union syndicale des magistrats
The Union syndicale des magistrats, commonly abbreviated as USM, is the French largest magistrates trade union - in terms of membership and support in professional elections ....
(USM, the largest trade union of French judges) has supported the fairness of the Italian trial in absentia and has also confirmed the legality of Battisti’s condemnation:
"L'USM condamne le procédé consistant, dans une perspective purement idéologique, à discréditer une décision de justice rendue par une cour d’assises italienne, dans le strict respect des règles de procédure pénale (appel et cassation) s’agissant d’un accusé en fuite mais défendu à tous les stades de la procédure conformément au droit italien en vigueur."Translation : "The USM condemns the procedure consisting in discrediting, in a purely ideological perspective, a justice decision emitted by an Italian Assizes Court, in strict respect of penal legal procedures (appeals and "Cassation"), in the case of a defendant not appearing in Court but defended in each and every stage of procedure in accordance with Italian prevailing legislation."
External links
- The website of Battisti's review, Via Libre
- Audio interview of Battisti, by Isabelle Sommier, February 11, 2004, France InterFrance InterFrance Inter is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and intelligent spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, liberally punctuated with an eclectic mix of...
on Daniel Mermet's show - The website of the "Associazione Italiana Vittime del Terrorismo e dell'Eversione Contro l'Ordinamento Costituzionale dello Stato" (Association of terror victims)
- Batttisti in Brazil
- Page on Battisti's case (Ext 1085) on the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil website