Claudio Martelli
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Claudio Martelli (Gessate, MI, 24 September 1943) is an italian politician.
He graduated in Philosophy and joined the Italian Socialist Party in 1966. In 1976, he was called the by the leader of the party Bettino Craxi to continue his career in Rome. He was successfully 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, the year when he became vice-leader. 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 curruption. However his candidacy was blown off by his involment in the 7 million dollar bribe in 1980. He exited the political world to deal with his judicial cases. In 1997 after concluding his legal battles, he founded Mondo Operaio (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 televsion political program.