Terrorist on bail vanishes from Paris

PARIS, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- French police have requested an international manhunt for a convicted terrorist who vanished in violation of his bail agreement, The Times of London reported.

Cesare Battisti, 50, triggered the search when he failed to make a weekly visit to a Paris police station Saturday. Police suspect he may have fled to Latin America, where he lived in the 1980s after escaping arrest in Italy.

Battisti was a member of the Armed Proletarians for Communism in Italy in the 1970s. An Italian court convicted him in absentia of murdering a prison guard, a police officer and a neo-Fascist militant, and of complicity in the killing of a jeweler during his time with the terror group.

Under an order by former President Francois Mitterand, Battisti was permitted to stay in Paris and avoid extradition to Italy. However, current President Jacques Chirac sided with French courts and an appeals court was expected to order Battisti extradited next month.

Earlier this month, Battisti said he had never killed anyone, and claimed he was convicted for all of the terror group's actions.