Claudio Martelli

Claudio Martelli (born 24 September 1943) is an Italian politician, and was the right-hand man of Bettino Craxi, the socialist Prime Minister from 1983–1987.

Martelli was born at Gessate, in the province of Milan.

He graduated in Philosophy and joined the Italian Socialist Party in 1966. In 1976, he was called by the leader of the party, Bettino Craxi, to continue his career in Rome. He was elected to the Italian Parliament in 1979 and became vice-leader (with Valdo Spini) of the party in 1981. He was also elected for the PSI at the European Parliament in 1984. In 1989, he was nominated as vice-President of the Council and in 1991 became Minister for Justice in both of the governments of Giulio Andreotti (1989–1992).

During Tangentopoli, he ran for the party leadership after the resignation of Bettino Craxi, after Craxi was accused of corruption. However, his candidacy was blown off by his involvement in the 7 million dollar bribe in 1980 and resigned as Minister of Justice.

He exited the political world to deal with his judicial cases. In 1997, after concluding his legal battles, he founded Mondoperaio (former magazine of the PSI). In the same year he was elected to the European Parliament for the Italian Social Democrats. However, in 2000, he left the SDI and joined the Socialist Party – New PSI. He became spokesman for the party but was not elected to the Italian Parliament in 2001 and left the party in 2005. In 2005, for second time, he left the political spectrum and became a presenter of a television political program.