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Italian protesters want Brazil to extradite terror suspect

05 January 2011 04:34 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A hundred Italians protested on Tuesday in front of the Brazilian embassy in Rome against the decision of the former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to deny the extradition of a wanted Italian terror suspect accused of several political killings in the 1970’s, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

Waving slogans and posters, Italians pleaded the Brazilian government for "justice" and expressed their hope that Lula’s successor, new president Dilma Rousseff, might adopt a different approach and grant the extradition of Cesare Battisti, who has been hiding in Brazil since 2004.

Tensions between Italy and Brazil, which broke out several days ago when Lula refused to hand over Battisti before ending his mandate, are on the verge of turning into a diplomatic crisis. The Italian ambassador to Brasilia has already been recalled to Rome temporarily.

Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Monday the existing tensions will not jeopardize the good state of bilateral ties between the two countries.

"Battisti is a criminal and must therefore be punished in his home-country for what he has done. This has nothing to do with our relations with Brazil, it’s a matter of justice," said Berlusconi after meeting the crippled son of one of Battisti’s victims.

Battisti was one of the main protagonists of the so-called " Lead Years" in Italy, when right and left wing militia bitterly fought one another causing the deaths of many innocent victims.

He was accused of four murders in 1985 but fled from the country, seeking asylum first in France (where he became a popular author of thrillers) and then in Brazil, where he was arrested in 2007.

However, despite the Brazilian Supreme Court’s final decision to hand over Battisti to the Italian authorities, Lula denied his expulsion just before he left office on Sunday.