Cesare Battisti (activist)

Cesare Battisti
Battisti, 17 November 2009
Born	(1954-12-18) December 18, 1954 (age 63) Cisterna di Latina, Italy
Criminal charge	Two murders and accomplice in other two
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment
Criminal status	Fugitive in Brazil
Spouse(s)	Laurence Battisti (1983-1997) Joice Lima Passos dos Santos (2015-2017)
Children	Valentina Battisti (b. 1984) Charlene Battisti (b. 1995) by first wife Raul Battisti (b. 2013) by Priscila Pereira

Cesare Battisti (born 18 December 1954) is an Italian killer former member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism, a far-left militant and terrorist group which committed acts of illegality and crimes in Italy during the period known as "Years of Lead". Sentenced for four homicides (two policemen, a jeweler and a butcher) to life imprisonment in Italy, currently he is a writer and he lives as a free man in Brazil. Fleeing Italy, he fled to France and subsequently Mexico before settling in Brazil. He has become a fiction author, having written 15 books.

Battisti was sentenced to 12 years under the charge of participating in an armed group and of the material killing of two people and being the mandate for other two homicides. 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 entered in Brazil with fake documents 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 Brazilian and international press opinion was more divided. 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.