Italy Recalls Its Ambassador to Brazil After Release of Fugitive

Posted June 10th, 2011 at 12:35 pm (UTC-5)
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Italy has recalled its ambassador to Brazil in an escalating dispute over the South American country's decision not to extradite Italian fugitive Cesare Battisti.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini recalled Ambassador Gherardo La Francesca to Rome on Friday to discuss Italy's options, saying the court's decision was a political decision, not a legal one.

Brazilian authorities released Battisti from prison Thursday, one day after Brazil's Supreme Court rejected Italy's request for his extradition. The court was upholding a December decision by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to grant asylum to Battisti.

The former communist guerrilla was convicted of four murders dating from the 1970's. Battisti has denied the killings.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has expressed deep regret at Brazil's decision to free Battisti. Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said it contradicts the historical friendship between the two countries. Rome says it will now appeal the case to the United Nations International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The former left-wing militant had been on the run since the 1980s, when he escaped from an Italian prison while awaiting trial. A court convicted him in absentia of two of the murders.

Battisti was arrested in Brazil in 2007 at the request of Interpol. Brazil granted him refugee status in 2009 on the basis that he could face political persecution if extradited.

Battisti faces possible life in prison if returned to Italy.