BRAZIL: Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says relations with Brazil will not be hurt by dispute over extradition of former leftist militant Cesare Battisti

Record ID: 593228

  • Title: BRAZIL: Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says relations with Brazil will not be hurt by dispute over extradition of former leftist militant Cesare Battisti
  • Date: 5th January 2011
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE) (REUTERS) FORMER ITALIAN GUERRILLA, CESARE BATTISTI, LEAVING BUILDING IN HANDCUFFS AFTER A COURT HEARING POLICE CAR WITH BATTISTI INSIDE LEAVING COURT
  • Embargoed: 20th January 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil, Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7HL67QXAWEVPJC2L684BNC3LN
  • Story Text: A dispute over the extradition of former left-wing guerrilla Cesare Battisti will not damage Italy's relations with Brazil, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday (January 4).
    Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva provoked outrage in Italy by ruling on New Year's Eve against the extradition of Battisti, who is wanted in his homeland for murder convictions from the 1970s.
    Berlusconi issued a statement last week expressing bitterness and regret at the decision, which was taken on Lula's last day in office and which Italian President Giorgio Napolitano described as "incomprehensible".
    On Tuesday in Milan, Berlusconi met Alberto Torregiani, the son of one of Battisti's victims, who was himself crippled in the shootout in which his father died.
    He said ties between both countries were still solid, but hoped Brazil would change its mind.
    "We wanted to have this diffusion of the truth, for the souls of the victims of these horrible crimes, in order to arrive at a point when we may have a different decision from Brazil. Not for vendetta, which isn't what Mr Torregiani and the others want, but because I really think that a justice that is harmed, is a wound that affects all of us," he said.
    Lula's move sparked demonstrations at Brazilian consulates and other offices in several Italian towns.
    On Tuesday, over a hundred people gathered outside the consulate in Rome's central Piazza Navona. Torregiani also took part on the protest, where people signed a petition to call on the Brazilian government to extradite Battisti.
    Torregiani said he would fight for justice and to bring back the fugitive to an Italian prison.
    "It's not just for the victims, but also the general public wants justice to be done. Therefore, the government, victims and the general public, all together, will fight against this ignoble action that was carried out, in order to obtain the best possible scenario, where justice would be done and Cesare Battisti, who is a criminal and nothing more than a criminal, would return to Italy and continue his sentence for which he was tried," he said.
    Battisti faces life in prison in Italy for murders in the 70s, a violent period known as the "Years of Lead," when he belonged to a guerrilla group called "Armed Proletarians for Communism." He denies the crimes and says he is being politically persecuted in Italy.
    The fugitive escaped from an Italian prison in 1981 and lived in France for years, but fled when Paris approved his extradition in 2006. He was arrested in 2007, on the run in Brazil, where he was granted a political refugee status.
    "This is France and Brazil's responsibility because France let him escape at the right moment and Brazil has kept him. Lula the coward!"' said an angry pensioner, Guido Remotti, at the demonstration in Rome.
    Battisti's defense lawyers in Brazil requested his immediate release from prison on Monday (January 3), filing a petition to the country's Supreme Court (STF).
    The former guerrilla is currently serving a short sentence in the capital Brasilia, after having been charged with entering the country illegally.
    Battisti's Attorney Renata Saraiva said the defense was positive that Battisti would be released soon.
    "The president has decided and now we are confident that Cesare will be freed," she said.
    Brazil's Supreme Court Chief, Cezar Peluso, passed on the request to the reporting judge in charge of Battisti's case, Gilmar Mendes, who said he will only analyze the petition in February, after the court recess ends.
    In 2009, STF had ruled that Battisti would be extradited for the murders, but left a final decision to Lula, who made the decision to spare his successor, Dilma Rousseff, from having to wade into controversy early in office.
    Rousseff's advisor for Foreign Affairs, Marco Aurelio Garcia, said Italy and Brazil were prone to dialogue.
    "(The presence of the Italian ambassador at Rousseff's inauguration) is a sign that there is much more will for dialogue, for a diplomatic solution than for conflict," he said.
    The Italian government responded to the defense's latest move on Tuesday, asking STF to reject the bid alleging it lacked legal support.
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