Cesare Battisti begins serving his sentence in Italy after 38 years of flight | New

It was not raining much when the Falcon 900 of the Italian Air Force landed in the military part of Ciampino Airport in Rome. The armed men on the track, reinforced security, showed that it was a special prisoner, expected for 37 years.

When Cesare Battisti descended in the staircase of the plane, without handcuffs, the clouds were distant and, with the same expression that the Brazilians knew him almost with a smile, he faced the reunion with his country.

After being enlisted in a police station in the Italian capital, Battisti was taken to Sardinia. There, he must serve his sentence for the murder of four people in the Oristano prison, where Mafiosi and prisoners sentenced to long sentences are imprisoned. The prison has been in existence since 2012 and no one has ever escaped. Battisti will be in solitary confinement for six months.

One of the victims was accompanying everything on television. Alberto Torregiani was 15 years old when his father was killed and hit by a bullet that left him paraplegic. "This puts an end to his flight, which has taken too much time, and we, the families, have been waiting for this for so long," he said.

Battisti's story in Italian jails began when he was arrested for robbery at age 18. He was later arrested for kidnapping and badaulting an officer. According to the Italian court, an ordinary prisoner, he became a terrorist in Udine, where he met one of the leaders of the Proletarians armed group for communism.

In 1981, he was sentenced at first instance to 12 years in prison for forming an armed gang. But he escaped from prison 90 kilometers from Rome with the help of friends disguising himself as police officers.

He is tried in absentia and sentenced in 1993 to two life sentences for his participation in four murders committed in the 1970s.

Outlaw, he went to Mexico in the 1980s; for France in the 1990s; and in Brazil in 2004. He was arrested in the country for the first time in 2007, after Italy had asked for his extradition. In 2010, on the last day of his term, President Lula refused extradition and Battisti came to Brazil to settle on the south coast of São Paulo.

The second prison was in 2017, on suspicion of monetary evasion, on the Brazilian border with Bolivia. He was released again, by decision of the Federal Regional Court, but with the condition of use of the electronic support for ankle. In 2018, the Superior Court of Justice responded to the request of Battisti's defense and overturned the obligation of electronic surveillance.

In December 2018, Federal Supreme Court Minister Luiz Fux ordered his arrest for a new extradition request from Italy. The then president, Michel Temer, even signed the extradition decree, but Battisti again escaped. After nearly a month of hiding, the Italian was arrested Sunday (13) in Bolivia.

He has always pleaded not guilty. In an interview with GloboNews in April 2014, Battisti said that he had not killed anyone and that he was being persecuted.

On Monday in Rome, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte thanked Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, explaining that the Italian plane that Battisti was carrying did not pbad through Brazil because the country could not expel him immediately.

But in Italy, there is another version: that if the plane pbaded through Brazil, Italy should respect an agreement reached with the Brazilian government in October 2017, according to which Battisti's sentence should be 30 years and not perpetual

There is controversy over the benefits to which the Italian will be entitled. But in Italy, even those with the strictest life sentences are not in prison for more than 30 years. Cesare Battiste could receive benefits after ten years. Do not rely on the current Italian government.

The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, declared himself satisfied with the arrest of Battisti.

Although his arrest is one of the few problems that unite all Italian political parties, some politicians have criticized the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Salvini, for presenting Battisti as a trophy and having used the prison to obtain political dividends. Salvini has already announced his intention to bring to Italy other persons convicted of terrorism and who are abroad.

The Milan prosecutor's office opened an investigation to find out who helped Cesare Battisti flee. Not only from Brazil to Bolivia, but who have helped all these years. The suspects are relatives and friends with whom Battisti stayed in touch through 15 different cell phones.