Euro-Parliament calls on Brazil to extradite Italy's Battisti
(STRASBOURG) - The European parliament called Thursday for Brazil's new president to extradite former far-left militant Cesare Battisti to Italy.
A non-binding resolution was passed by 83 votes to one against, with two abstentions. Only the communists and the Greens did not support the call.
The text calls on Brazil's authorities, under new leader Dilma Rousseff, to "fulfil their duty" towards Italy, given partnership treaties with the European Union, and "process the Italian government's new request that the decision on the extradition of Cesare Battisti be reviewed."
Arrested in Italy in 1979 and sentenced to 12 years in jail, Battisti escaped in 1981 finding refuge successively in Mexico, France and Brazil, where he was arrested in 2007.
Italy wants him to serve a full-life sentence given in absentia in 1993 for a series of murders, in which he denies involvement.
Outgoing Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced on December 31, his last day before passing power to protege Rousseff, that he had rejected Italy's last demand.
The EU does not have an extradition deal with Brazil, and commissioner Stefan Fuele stressed that even if it did, it could not interfere.
Human rights: Pakistan, Brazil, Iran - European Parliament:
Adopted text will be available here (click on 20 January 2011)
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