Battisti not at home after arrest order

(ANSA) - Sao Paulo, December 14 - A Brazilian supreme court judge has ordered the arrest of Cesare Battisti, a former leftwing terrorist who Italy wants extradited. According to the judge, there is a danger that Battisti could try to take flight.
    Battisti, however, is not at his home in the Brazilian city of Cananeia, some of his neighbours told reporters outside the property on Friday. Battisti's lawyer in Brazil Igor Tamasauskas refused to comment, telling ANSA that he had learned about the ruling from the media. "Our request has been accepted," said Italian Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede on Friday.
    "But we will only be satisfied when Battisti is extradited to Italy". Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro told Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini that he would help with regard to the case. "Thank you for the consideration you have always give Mr Italian Interior Minister," Bolsonaro said in reply to a tweet by Salvini about the case. "Everything will be normalized in a short period of time in the case of this terrorist assassin who is defended by his Brazilian comrades. Count on us!". Battisti is wanted to serve out several life sentences for murders in the so-called 'Years of Lead' of leftist and rightist terrorism in the 1970s and 80s.
    Battisti, whose extradition was formerly halted by ex-president Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, has always denied committing murder.