Lula apologizes to families of victims and says the left was disappointed
For the first time, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva explained the reasons behind his decision to grant refuge in Brazil to the Italian activist Caesar Battisti, on December 31, 2010.
In an interview this Thursday (20) with TV Democracia, Lula said that, upon learning that the Italian confessed to the crimes, “feel great frustration” and apologizes to the families of the victims.
The former activist of the PAC group (Proletarians Armed for Communism), far left terrorist organization who served during the period known as the “years of lead” in Italy, has been serving a life sentence since January of last year in the Oristano prison, on the island of Sardinia.
Battisti was convicted of four murders committed in Italy, at the end of the 1970s.
In March 2019, during a long interrogation carried out by prosecutor Alberto Nobili in prison, Battisti admitted his responsibility for four deaths: that of sub-lieutenant Antonio Santoro, killed in Udine, on June 6, 1978; that of jeweler Pierluigi Torregiani and merchant Lino Sabbadin, both killed by the PAC on February 16, 1979, the first in Milan and the second in Mestre; and that of agent Digos Andrea Campagna, murdered in Milan on April 19, 1978.
Battisti, until then, had always declared himself innocent of the crimes.
“When he was arrested and confessed, it was frustrating. He compromised a government that had an extraordinary relationship, and I still have, with the entire Italian and European left. He wouldn't have needed to lie to those who believed in him. The basis of truth in politics is not to harm a friend“, said Lula.
The former president highlighted that, when someone commits a crime, they must tell the truth and the lawyer will know how to defend them.
“You can’t lie to your friends. Today, I think that, like me, everyone on the Brazilian left who defended Cesare Battisti here was frustrated. He was disappointed. I would have no problem apologizing to the Italian left and to the families for committing the crimes and deceiving many people in Brazil. I don't know if he fooled a lot of people in France, but in fact a lot of people thought he was innocent. We made this mistake and we owe an apology. I have no doubt. He lied to the good people here in Brazil who believed in him”, said Lula.
The former president stated that he did not know Cesare Battisti personally. “I was never with Battisti. I don't know him personally. He never contacted me, perhaps because I wasn't a left-wing revolutionary like he wanted to be. Therefore, I kept him here because my minister [Tarso Genro] said he was innocent and that he had no proof of guilt.”
The reason for Battisti's refuge in Brazil
According to former president Lula, in 2009, the then Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, took the decision to grant refugee status to Cesare Battisti, because believed in his innocence.
“Tarso Genro told me: we can’t send him [Battisti] away, because he could be detonated in Italy and he’s innocent. The entire Brazilian left, comrades and many left-wing parties and left-wing personalities asked Battisti to stay here.”
Lula highlighted that his decision to grant political refugee status to Battisti provoked much criticism even from former Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, his historical ally since 1980.
Last year, Napolitano wrote a letter about the episode stating that the Brazilian promised him one thing and did another, emphasizing “the extremist part” of the PT government.
“Even the former Italian President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, with whom I had long conversations, and the entire Italian left were pressuring me for Brazil to return Cesare Battisti. It was not an easy decision.”
Understand the Battisti case
After committing the four murders together with the Pac group, Battisti fled Italy in the 1980s and spent a long period in Mexico. His conviction for the murders occurred in absentia in the Italian courts.
In the 1990s, Battisti went into exile in Paris, protected by legislation from the socialist government of former president François Mitterrand (1981-1995). In 2004, the French government authorized the extradition of the Italian terrorist to his country of origin.
In the same year, he fled from France to Brazil, where he remained until he was arrested in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro.
In 2009, the then Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, granted him political refuge, but in November of the same year the STF (Supreme Federal Court) annulled the refugee status and established that the final decision on the case should be taken by the President of the Republic.
In December 2010, on the last day of his term as president, Lula guaranteed Battisti's stay in Brazil. In 2018, President Michel Temer revoked his refugee status.
In December of the same year, the STF ordered the Italian's arrest. Temer authorized extradition to Italy, but Battisti fled to Bolivia, where he was arrested on January 12, 2019 and extradited to Italy the following day.
Today, Battisti, who is 65 years old, is serving his sentence life imprisonment in isolation in Oristano prison.
By RFI
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