Extradition decision due on Cesare Battisti

The fate of the leftist Italian militant Cesare Battisti, now living in Brazil and wanted in Italy, is expected to be decided today.

Outgoing Brazilian President Lula da Silva says he wants to resolve Battisti’s extradition case before leaving office on January 1.

Battisti, convicted of four murders and several robberies, fled to Brazil in 2005 when French authorities approved his extradition to Italy.

The son of an Italian jeweller killed in one of the robberies allegedly involving Battisti gave his reaction to the latest news.

Alberto Torreggiani, who was injured in the attack and left in a wheelchair, said: “This will not change my life. I’ll still be in a wheelchair, my father will not come back to life, he will not return.

“The point is that if you give a criminal the chance to flout the law, the court system, it is dangerous because one day other criminals could claim this right.”

Battisti was first arrested in 1979 for activities linked to Italy’s Red Brigades militants.

After escaping from an Italian prison in 1981 he lived in Mexico for a time and then Paris.

He went on to publish several crime novels.

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