Brazil refuses to extradite Italian fugitive Battisti

Italian fugitive Cesare Battisti will not be extradited from Brazil on murder convictions dating back to the 1970s.

The decision by Brazilian President Lula is one of his last before leaving office on January 1 2011 and risks creating a crisis in bilateral relations with Rome.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said it would be “unacceptable” if the former left-wing militant was not handed over.

And, speaking before the Brazilian refusal, Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said it would be “incredible” if someone “who has said not even one word of regret” for the murders is freed.

“He is a murderer who must be delivered to Italian prisons. If it does not happen, I guess there would be consequences,” he said.

Battisti escaped from an Italian jail in 1981 while awaiting trial when he was a member of a extreme-left-wing group.

He went on to become a crime novelist in France.

But he fled the country when Paris approved his extradition and was arrested in Brazil in 2007. He denies the accusations against him.

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