Friday, December 31, 2010

Lula decide tomorrow whether to grant refugee status to Italian activist Battisti

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, must take a final decision just hours before the end of its mandate and take its successor office Dilma Rousseff on Saturday. Brazilian President to decide whether to grant refugee status or permit extradition to Italy's left-wing activist Cesare Battisti, held in Brasilia for four years.

Local media speculated for days that Lula granted refugee status Battisti, who told an Italian court in 1992 convicted of killing four people, two of them policemen, in the seventies, a period in which militated the group Armed Proletarians for Communism (PAC), linked to the Red Brigades.

According to this version, the cause of the delay announcement responds to fear of reprisals from Italy, although the president had stated he would announce his decision before his term ends this Saturday. Battisti's decision is awaited with anticipation in Italy. The Italian Government yesterday came to declare that it reserves the "right to consider all necessary measures to respect the bilateral extradition treaty with Brazil.

The Italian Foreign Ministry issued a brief statement that opens the door to this possibility, depending on the decision taken in regard to Lula or not to grant refugee status to Battisti. Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa, said in an interview published by the newspaper Corriere della Seraque Brazil any decision to grant political refugee status to Battisti not be without consequences for bilateral relations.

Lula's response, which leaves the presidency with a popularity rating of over 805, did not wait too: "Brazil is sovereign. Do not fear reprisals from Italy. Who is going to retaliate to Brazil? Everyone ago what he wants and always respect a sovereign decision of another country ", added a one of his last official acts.

In November last year the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) in Brazil overturned the refugee status granted to Battisti and gave the green light for his extradition to Italy to serve there life sentence for his crimes, but the ruling is not binding and the final decision on its future depends on the president of the republic.

Lula met with the President of STF, Cézar Peluze, and it was hoped that after this meeting will make an announcement, which ultimately did not happen. Battisti, 55, has been detained in a prison in Brasilia where he was held in January 2007, a day after his capture in Rio de Janeiro, where he was hiding since 2004.

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