Lula to decide fate of Italian ‘terrorist’ today

A decision on whether to allow the extradition of a former militant, Cesare Battisti, from Brazil to his native Italy will be made today, said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

“I’m only going to think about that tomorrow. When I’ve made my decision, you’ll know,” said Mr Lula yesterday, three days before he steps down at the end of his mandate on January 1, handing power to his successor Dilma Rousseff.

Mr Lula has said he would decide Mr Battisti’s fate before tomorrow, so that any repercussions with Italy would not contaminate the first days of Dilma Rousseff’s term.

If Brazil denies Italy’s extradition demand, it risks stirring fury from Rome, which views Mr Battisti as a “terrorist” guilty of four murders in the 1970s and sentenced in absentia to life in prison.

Mr Battisti, 56, has been on the run from Italian justice for the past three decades, spending time in France, Mexico and finally Brazil, where he has been in jail under the Italian extradition request for the past three years.