Italian former left-wing extremist Cesare Battisti has been arrested in Bolivia, according to Brazilian media. Also the adviser of the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, Filipe G. Martins, confirmed the arrest in the night on today.
Battisti was soon to be transferred to Brazil and from there presumably extradited to Italy, „in accordance with the decision of the Italian judiciary to serve his life imprisonment,“ said Martins.
Sentenced for fourfold murder
The Italian had been in Brazil since 2011 and for a long time escaped extradition under the protection of leftist presidents. Brazil’s new right-wing President Bolsonaro had promised Italy Battisti’s extradition before his election in late October. He would have extradited the „Brazilians on the left so popular terrorists“ right after his election victory, he had announced.
In mid-December, the Supreme Court of Brazil issued an arrest warrant for Battisti, but since then he has lacked any trace. Battisti was sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy in 1993 for fourfold murder. He denies the allegations. The murders committed in the late 1970s are blamed on the left-wing extremist group Armed Proletarians for Communism, whose co-founder was Battisti.
