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Wanted Italian seized in Brazil | Wanted Italian seized in Brazil |
(about 4 hours later) | |
A former Italian revolutionary, wanted in Italy in connection with four murders, has been arrested in Brazil, Brazilian and French authorities say. | A former Italian revolutionary, wanted in Italy in connection with four murders, has been arrested in Brazil, Brazilian and French authorities say. |
Cesare Battisti, who used to belong to a left-wing extremist group, went into hiding in France in 2004, after France agreed to extradite him to Italy. | Cesare Battisti, who used to belong to a left-wing extremist group, went into hiding in France in 2004, after France agreed to extradite him to Italy. |
Battisti, 52, had made a successful career as a crime writer after escaping from prison in Italy in 1981. | |
He was granted asylum in France in 1990 by then President Francois Mitterrand. | He was granted asylum in France in 1990 by then President Francois Mitterrand. |
He was one of several Italian militants given sanctuary in France in return for renouncing violence. | |
A former member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism, Mr Battisti was convicted in absentia by an Italian court and sentenced to life in prison in 1990 for the murders of a prison guard and a butcher in the 1970s. | |
Battisti is also accused of being an accomplice in two other murders, including the killing of a police officer. | |
He was arrested in his hotel room in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning in a joint operation by Italian, French and Brazilian police. | |
The Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, has called his interior minister to express huge satisfaction at what he described as a "brilliant operation" that had led to Battisti's arrest, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from Rome. | |
Battisti has always protested his innocence. In a book published in France last year he said: "I am guilty of carrying a weapon, but I've never shot anyone." |
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