A story full of twists. Made up of escapes, sensational escapes, of accounts with justice that are never completely discounted. The saga of the last Sardinian “balente” seemed to have ended in 2004 with the pardon granted by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, but no.

The first arrest of Graziano Mesina dates back to 1956, when “Grazianeddu” was 14, for abusive carrying of a pistol and insulting a public official. He obtains a judicial pardon and is released, but after a short time he is arrested again and scores the first of the escapes that will make him famous. He is admitted to San Francesco di Nuoro, and from there he climbs over a window sill and descends along a water pipe where he remains hidden for three days.

His escapes will help build the "myth". The first dates back to a few months before that of San Francesco: in 1962, when he launches from a moving train during the transfer from Sassari, he will be captured after a long chase.

Then the escape from the prison of San Sebastiano di Sassari, when together with the former Spanish legionnaire Miguel Atienza he lets himself fall from the walls of the institute. And the one from the Lecce prison in 1976. And again, the love escape from the Porto Azzurro penitentiary (already serving a life sentence) in 1985.

The penultimate of the eleven children of a family of shepherds from Orgosolo, Mesina spent over 40 of his 79 years of life in prison.

In fourth grade, he recounts in his autobiography, he stoned the teacher and had to leave school to go to the countryside as a shepherd servant.

The conflict with the law marked all the stages of his life, numerous public figures have dealt with him. Among the first to fight for pardon was Indro Montanelli, but Giovanni Falcone said no to the then president Cossiga who had expressed a "favorable opinion" for the granting of the benefit to Mesina, who was at liberty at the time supervised.

A partial freedom that lasted less than two years, spent between a few visits to family members in Orgosolo and the Asti countryside, where he lived as the guest of a childhood friend.

On August 4, 1993, parole was revoked after a Kalashnikov and other weapons of war were found in the farmhouse where he lived. New sentence of eight and a half years and back in prison.

His name reappears in the events of the kidnapping of Farouk Kassam, Mesina claimed to have acted as an intermediary and favored the release of the hostage, a circumstance always denied by the investigators and which led to a conviction for aiding and abetting.

In '99 Ciampi pardoned the lawyer Bruno Bagedda, his historic defender sentenced to 14 years in prison for having participated in the kidnapping and murder of the journalist Leone Concato. Five years later, the pardon arrived for him too: after being released in 2004 from the Voghera prison, Mesina returned to his Orgosolo.

A few years later, we are in 2013, a new arrest for criminal association aimed at drug dealing. A maxi operation by the investigators to defeat two active gangs between the island and the peninsula with a total of 26 affiliates. Six years later he was released from prison amidst controversy due to the expiry of the terms of pre-trial detention due to the failure to file the reasons for the sentence on appeal. The rest is recent history, with "Grazianeddu" who fled in the night, before the Supreme Court finalizes the sentence against him by reopening the prison doors.

Yet another inaction, this time lasting a year and a half, on the threshold of eighty years. Will it be the last?

(Unioneonline / L)


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