Italian former leftist
terrorist Cesare Battisti "broke the relationship of trust" with
Brazil by trying to leave the country "without a precise reason"
last week, Justice Minister Torquato Jardim told BBC Brazil
Friday.
Caught on his way to Bolivia in a taxi, Jardim said, "he said
he was going to get fishing equipment, but he broke the
relationship of trust because he committed an illegal act and
was leaving the country with money above the permitted limit,
without an apparent motive".
Battisti's extradition to Italy is a "sovereign act" on the
part of the Brazilian government under a bilateral treaty
between the two countries, Jardim told BBC Brasil, confirming
President Michel Temer's intention to send Battisti back to
serve two life terms for four 1970s murders.
Italian Justice Minister Andrea Orlando on Friday hailed the
shift in Brazil's position on extraditing Battisti as stated by
Jardim.
Orlando voiced the hope that extradition would now be carried
out, having made all the necessary moves.
Battisti told ANSA he didn't think he owed an apology to any
of the relatives of his four murder victims, reiterating his
claim the murders were committed by others.
"All murders are deplorable, but there's no reason for me to
apologise for something that other people committed", he said,
adding that he felt more Brazilian than Italian after almost 10
years spent there as a refugee, and that all there was in Italy
for him were "hate and resentment".
The former terrorist told a Brazilian daily Italy is "such an
arrogant country" that "they are convinced it will be an easy
task for them to get me out" of Brazil.
Speaking to Folha de S.Paulo, Battisti said Italy's attitude
towards him was one of "pride and vanity".
Temer has an opportunity to "make a great act of justice and
humanity" towards him in letting him stay on as a political
refugee, Battisti told the Brazilian daily.
"I would like President Temer to become deeply aware of the
situation, also because he has all the judicial and political
instruments to carry out an act of humanity and leave me here"
in Brazil, said Battisti.
Sao Paulo Mayor João Doria said after meeting Milan Mayor
Giuseppe Sala in Milan Friday that Battisti is a criminal who
must be extradited.
"Now we have a democratic government in Brazil and we can't
give protection to a criminal. The extradition must be done,"
said Doria.
Italy is seeking to extradite Battisti for murders committed
in the 1970s Years of Lead of rightist and leftist terrorism.
Temer has reportedly decided to lift Battisti's
political-refugee status, granted by former president Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva in 2010.
Battisti, formerly a successful crime writer in France, has
said extradition to Italy would be like "a death sentence".
The 62-year-old, born in the hilltown of Sermoneta south of
Rome, was a member of the leftist militant group Armed
Proletarians for Communism (PAC).
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