Italy may recall Brazil's envoy in asylum row

Italy could recall its ambassador to Brazil for consultations in protest at Brazil's move to grant political asylum to a former leftist activist wanted for four murders in Italy, the foreign ministry said yesterday.

Italian authorities have strongly condemned Brazil's decision earlier this month to grant asylum to Cesare Battisti, who escaped from an Italian prison in the early 1980s while awaiting trial for the murders.

He was arrested in Rio de Janeiro in 2007 and has been held in a Brazilian jail since, but could now soon be freed.

Last week, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Rome had to accept the decision even if it did not like it, but in Italy several right-wing politicians have said the ambassador to Brazil should be recalled in protest.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was deciding whether to make such a move, his ministry said in a terse statement.

Another minister in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government told lawmakers earlier yesterday Rome would do all it could to obtain Battisti's extradition.

Brazil's Justice Minister Tarso Genro said in his ruling that Battisti should be given refugee status because of fears he was being persecuted for his political opinions.

Mr Battisti, who denies he committed the murders, belonged in the 1970s to a leftist group, the Armed Proletariat for Communism.

That period is known in Italy as the "years of lead", when leftists and extreme right-wing groups waged a campaign of violence with bullets and bombs.

Mr Battisti was convicted by an Italian court in his absence and sentenced to life in prison for two of the killings.