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The crimes that made Cesare Battisti one of Italy’s most wanted

Italy has been hunting the fugitive Cesare Battisti since the 1980s. So what did he actually do?

The crimes that made Cesare Battisti one of Italy's most wanted
Cesare Battisti arrives at Rome's Ciampino airport. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

Former left-wing militant Cesare Battisti, who was extradited to Italy on Monday, is to serve out the rest of his life sentence after being convicted in 1981 of two murders and involvement in two others.

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Battisti, 64, has admitted to being part of the Armed Proletarians for Communism (PAC), a radical group which staged a string of robberies and attacks, but has always denied responsibility for any deaths, painting himself as a political refugee.

Here are the details of the victims he was convicted of killing or helping to kill.

Pier Luigi Torregiani, jeweller

On February 16th, 1979, PAC militants shot dead Pier Luigi Torregiani at his Milan jeweller's shop in front of his teenaged son Alberto, who was wounded and paralysed in the shootout.

“Now the victims can rest in peace,” Alberto said on learning of Battisti's extradition.

Battisti was convicted of organising the killing, carried out after the jeweller killed a militant in self defence during a previous robbery.

Lino Sabbadin, butcher

On the same day, Battisti was an accomplice in the PAC murder of butcher and far-right militant Lino Sabbadin, 45, in Mestre, near Venice. The motive was the same as for the Torregiani killing: Sabbadin had killed a militant during an attempted robbery in 1978.

“I've waited 40 years for this moment,” said his son Adriano, aged 17 at the time of the attack, on learning of the extradition.

Antonio Santoro, prison guard

On June 6th, 1978, Battisti shot dead prison governor Santoro, 51, in Udine, northeastern Italy, for allegedly mistreating prisoners.

Andrea Campagna, police driver

On April 19th, 1979, Battisti shot dead Andrea Campagna, 24, a driver for the Digos anti-terrorist law enforcement agency.

“Andrea was a driver, not an investigator… They came from behind and shot him in the back of the head,” his brother Maurizio told La Repubblica newspaper.

Battisti was convicted of firing the bullet that killed Campagna, accused by the Marxists of torturing prisoners.

TIMELINE: How Cesare Battisti fled Italian justice for almost four decades


Photo: Evarista SA/AFP
 

CRIME

Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

Italy is conducting more investigations into alleged fraud of funds from the EU post-Covid fund and has higher estimated losses than any other country, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said.

Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

The EPPO reportedly placed Italy under special surveillance measures following findings that 179 out of a total of 206 investigations into alleged fraud of funds through the NextGenerationEU programme were in Italy, news agency Ansa reported.

Overall, Italy also had the highest amount of estimated damage to the EU budget related to active investigations into alleged fraud and financial wrongdoing of all types, the EPPO said in its annual report published on Friday.

The findings were published after a major international police investigation into fraud of EU recovery funds on Thursday, in which police seized 600 million euros’ worth of assets, including luxury villas and supercars, in northern Italy.

The European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, established to help countries bounce back from the economic blow dealt by the Covid pandemic, is worth more than 800 billion euros, financed in large part through common EU borrowing.

READ ALSO: ‘It would be a disaster’: Is Italy at risk of losing EU recovery funds?

Italy has been the largest beneficiary, awarded 194.4 billion euros through a combination of grants and loans – but there have long been warnings from law enforcement that Covid recovery funding would be targeted by organised crime groups.

2023 was reportedly the first year in which EU financial bodies had conducted audits into the use of funds under the NextGenerationEU program, of which the Recovery Fund is part.

The EPPO said that there were a total of 618 active investigations into alleged fraud cases in Italy at the end of 2023, worth 7.38 billion euros, including 5.22 billion euros from VAT fraud alone.

At the end of 2023, the EPPO had a total of 1,927 investigations open, with an overall estimated damage to the EU budget of 19.2 billion euros.

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