Following his arrest in Bolivia, the left-wing extremist is now on his way back to Italy. A special plane from the Italian authorities picked him up on Sunday in Santa Cruz.
Left-wing extremist Cesare Battisti is on his way back to Italy. After spending more than 20 years in South America, he was handed over to the Italian authorities in Bolivia. He had gone there investigators into the net, after he had previously been tolerated for years in Brazil as a political refugee. After the inauguration of the new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, however, he drowned in Bolivia. The right-wing leader had stated that he intended to extradite Battisti to Italy.
Condemned for involvement in four murders
Battisti is said to have been involved in four murders in his homeland as a member of the left-wing group „Armed Proletarians for Communism“ (PAC) in the late 1970s. He denies any participation, but admits the membership in the PAC. In 1981 he managed to escape from an Italian prison, in 1990 he was sentenced in absentia.
Under the socialist president François Mitterrand Battisti found in the 1990s in France refuge from the Italian judiciary and built a life as a writer. When Conservative President Nicolás Sarkozy tried to extradite him to Italy in 2004, Battisti fled to Brazil. The then Socialist President Lula da Silva refused a request for extradition. Last December, however, the Brazilian judiciary issued an arrest warrant for Battisti. Shortly thereafter, he is said to have settled in Bolivia.
Battisti on the way to Italy
After being arrested in Bolivia, 64-year-old Battisti is now on his way back to Italy. In Bolivian Santa Cruz, he was handed over to Italian authorities and picked up by a plane sent from Rome.
