Battisti 'broke trust' says Brazil (3)

(ANSA) - Rio de Janeiro, October 13 - 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.