TERROR VICTIM AND GOVERNMENT OUTRAGED BY BATTISTI REMARKS
TERROR VICTIM AND GOVERNMENT OUTRAGED BY BATTISTI REMARKS
(ANSA) - Brasilia, November 5 - Remarks by ex-terrorist Cesare Battisti on Thursday drew angry retorts from one of the victims of his leftist militant group and government officials demanding his extradition from Brazil.
During an interview with ANSA, Battisti said he'd been in touch with the son of Pierluigi Torregiani, whom Battisti is accused of killing in 1979.
His son, Alberto, was also shot during the attack, which left him paralyzed from the waste down.
While he admitted he was in touch with Battisti, Alberto Torregiani said the ex-terrorist's claim that they'd made amends was ''completely false''.
''He's just a windbag,'' said Torregiani.
''I have a lot more respect for the attackers who admitted to pulling the trigger and did their time in silence than for Battisti, who's done nothing but hide''.
According to Battisti, Torregiani concealed their correspondence for fear of losing his terror victim pension.
''Battisti keeps saying he's innocent and that he has the evidence to prove it, but he's never said what it was,'' said Torregiani, who has volunteered to testify against the ex-terrorist in extradition hearings before the Brazil supreme court.
After failing to reach a conclusion in September, the court is scheduled to reconvene next Thursday to decide whether to hand him over to Italian authorities.
Battisti, who has said he would rather die than return to Italy, accused ''Fascist'' ministers in Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government of wanting to claim him ''as a trophy''.
One of the cabinet members named, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa, said ''I'm not going to argue with a terrorist''.
''Battisti can have my attention once he's in an Italian jail,'' La Russa said.
Youth Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was ''nauseated by the delirious ramblings of a convicted murderer trying to moralize with the victims of terrorism''.
''The Italian government doesn't want a trophy, just a bit of justice for those who've suffered,'' Meloni said.
Battisti, 54, was convicted in absentia of four murders committed by a leftist militant group in the 1970s.
He was arrested in Brazil in March 2008, some four years after he had fled to that country to avoid extradition to Italy from France, where he had lived for 15 years and become a successful writer of crime novels.
In January, the Brazilian justice ministry granted Battisti political asylum on the grounds that he would face ''political persecution'' in Italy.
The ruling outraged the Italian government who demanded that it be appealed to the Brazilian supreme court.
After splitting evenly on Battisti's asylum request during a first hearing in September, the court is scheduled to reconvene on November 12.
