‘Protected’ Battisti challenges Bolsonaro over extradition

ROME – Former leftist terrorist Cesare Battisti has said that he “is protected” by the Brazilian justice system, after new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro claimed on his arrival to office that he would extradite Battisti to Italy, sources say.

 In response to Bolsonaro’s comments, which the Insider reported last week (https://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/7348), Battisti said that the President is “only bragging”. “Bolsonaro can say what he wants, I’m protected by the Supreme Court. His are just words, empty bragging. He can’t do anything, there is justice,” said the former terrorist, who fled his homeland of Italy after being convicted of four murders in 1981.

 Reports during the week from La Stampa and Il Giornale suggested that Battisti had gone on the run after the results of the election, writing that “no one has seen him since last Monday.” One friend of the Italian was quoted by La Stampa as saying that Battisti “wanted to face the consequences” and is “tired of fleeing.”

 Battisti confirmed that he had left his home in Cananeia, travelling to San Paolo to visit his lawyers, but denied that he had been trying to escape. His lawyer Igor Tamasaukas told sources that his client would be returning home in the next few days. Battisti “told me he was going to visit some friends and then go back to Cananeia [where he lives], without giving me a precise date” after he had met with his representatives in San Paolo, Tamasaukas said.  

pm