Terrorist turned author flees France

Italian former far-left rebel disappears after court overrules asylum pledge and backs extradition for 70s bombings

by Jon Henley

A former Italian terrorist turned best-selling crime writer who has been living openly in France for the past 15 years has fled the country to escape near-certain extradition, French media reported yesterday.

The left-leaning daily Libération, which has followed Cesare Battisti’s case closely, said that "according to our information" the author had left France, probably at the beginning of last week. "If his escape has been successful, he is by now far away," the paper said.

An appeals court approved his extradition to Italy in June, sparking howls of outrage from his many mainly left-wing supporters who denounced the decision as shameful, scandalous and a disgrace for French justice.

Battisti, 49, is one of up to 100 former far-left Italian guerrillas who accepted an offer of sanctuary by the late President François Mitterrand in 1985 on condition that they renounced their past, did not go into hiding, and kept completely out of politics.

The French justice ministry, which could not confirm his flight yesterday, demanded on Sunday that an arrest warrant be issued for Battisti after he failed to check in with police as required by his parole. He faces life imprisonment in Italy, where a court in 1993 convicted him in his absence of three 1970s murders.

Oreste Scalzone, another former Italian terrorist living in France, told Le Monde that he hoped Battisti had fled.

"I hope I was not the only one, but I advised him to avoid the risk of being locked up for life," he said. "I’m delighted he has chosen the green of life rather than submit to the grey of legal punishment."

His lawyer, Irene Terrel, said she had "no idea" where Battisti was. She said she was concerned for his well-being, adding that a court-appointed doctor had found him to be in "a state of severe depression" at the end of last month and that he entertained "no hope whatsoever" that an appeal to France’s highest court would block his extradition. Other backers said they understood his "desperate gesture".

Battisti arrived in France in 1990 and has published a dozen successful crime novels, many dealing with the dilemmas facing reformed extremists. His work has been praised by Paris Match as "the best-written condemnation there is of the absolute impasse that is terrorism".

He said this month his conviction was based on testimony from informants who were themselves offered immunity. "I have never killed, and I can say this looking straight into the eyes of the parents of the victims and the judges," he said.

Battisti’s French supporters, who include intellectuals, writers and celebrities, accuse the government of interfering with justice, reneging on Mitterrand’s pledge and ignoring previous court rulings which have refused numerous extradition requests because the accused was not guaranteed a retrial (Battisti, if he ever goes home, will not get one in Italy).

But Mr Chirac, keen not to be seen as lax on terrorism after 9/11, has said he would await the supreme court verdict but that in principle, terrorists should be punished. The justice minister, Dominique Perben, has also said he sees no reason to overrule any court decision in favour of extradition.

Rome’s conservative government yesterday reacted furiously to Battisti’s reported escape. The reform minister, Roberto Calderoli, accused Paris of "complicity in permitting the author of numerous crimes to flee, with the participation of all those who have supported the position of one of the worst kinds of criminal".

The Italian minister for relations with parliament, Carlo Giovanardi, said France’s behaviour had been "scandalous", accusing it of "confusing victims of political persecution with those whose hands are stained with terrible crimes".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,12576,1289991,00.html