Battisti: key dates in saga of Italian ex-militant

Rio de Janeiro, Italian former leftist militant Cesare Battisti, wanted in his country for four murders in the 1970s, had been living in Brazil and resisting extradition until his arrest in neighboring Bolivia.
Here are the key dates in the Battisti saga up to his arrest, announced Sunday by a senior aide to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Arrest in Italy
In June 1979 Battisti, a member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism, is arrested in Milan as part of an investigation into the murder of a jeweler in the city.
He is sentenced in May 1981 to 12 years and 10 months in prison for being a member of an armed group and receiving weapons.
In October the same year he escapes from prison near Rome and flees, first to France and then to Mexico in 1982.

Novelist in France
In 1985 France's socialist president Francois Mitterrand pledges not to extradite former far-left Italian militants who have turned their back on their past.
Battisti returns to France in 1990 and embarks on a writing career penning a string of noir novels.
In 1991 France rejects an Italian extradition request.
On March 31, 1993 Milan's appeals court convicts Battisti in absentia of killing two Italian policemen, taking part in the murder of a butcher, and having helped plan the slaying of the Milan jeweler who died in a shootout which left his 14-year-old son in a wheelchair.
Italy submits another extradition request in 2002.
Two years later in February Battisti is arrested in Paris and then released under legal supervision the next month. In June France says it supports his extradition.
In October 2004 his appeal is rejected, and he flees to Brazil.

Brazilian refuge
Battisti is arrested in Rio de Janeiro on March 18, 2007 and jailed in Brasilia. Italy again calls for his extradition.
But Brazil grants Battisti political asylum on 14 January, 2009.
On November 18 Brazil's Supreme Court authorizes Battisti's extradition but leaves the final decision to the leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who rejects it on December 31, 2010.
In a letter to the Brazilian parliament in February 2011 Battisti, who is in jail awaiting a new decision from the Supreme Court, denies ever harming or killing another human being.
On June 8, 2011 Brazil's Supreme Court confirms Lula's decision to refuse the extradition request and Battisti is released.
Italy announces it will make a plea to the International Court of Justice while Brazil grants Battisti a permanent residence permit.

Spectre of extradition
In March 2015 a Brazilian federal judge orders Battisti's extradition either to Mexico or France.
In October 2017 he is placed in preventative detention after he is picked up at the border with Bolivia as he was trying to leave Brazil. He is quickly freed and returns to Sao Paulo.
For the first four months of 2018 he is placed under electronic surveillance.
During Brazil's presidential campaign far-right candidate Bolsonaro vows to "immediately" extradite Battisti to Italy if elected.
In mid-December Brazil's outgoing president signs an extradition order for Battisti after a judge orders his arrest. By then the Italian ex-militant was nowhere to be found.

Arrest in Bolivia
Battisti is arrested in Bolivia late on January 12 "and will be soon brought to Brazil, from where he will probably be sent to Italy to serve a life sentence," tweeted Filipe G. Martins, a senior aide on international affairs to Bolsonaro, who took office on January 1.
Battisti, 64, is arrested in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Brazilian Federal Police sources tell Brazilian media.
"Battisti has been arrested! Democracy is stronger than terrorism!" Italy's ambassador to Brazil Antonio Bernardini tweeted.