Cesare Battisti (born 1954) - First Trial and Escape

First Trial and Escape

Cesare Battisti was arrested and jailed in Italy on February 26, 1979, sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison for participation in an "armed group" ("partecipazione a banda armata"). He was sentenced on the ground of material evidence and testimonies provided by two "collaboratori di giustizia" (defendants who testified against their former accomplice) who benefitted from lighter condemnations for their testimony. The status of "collaboratore di giustizia", also popularly known as pentito, was established by anti-terrorist legislation enacted during this period.

PAC members organised his escape on October 4, 1981, while he was in Frosinone prison. Battisti fled to Paris, and then for Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico, very shortly afterward. While in Mexico, he founded a literary review Via Libre, which is still active. He also participated in the creation of the Book Festival of Managua (Nicaragua), and organised the first Graphic Arts Biennal in Mexico. Cesare Battisti began to write at the suggestion of Paco Ignacio Taibo II, and collaborated with various newspapers.