Are you a Terrorist? Come to Brazil!

[Lord Consul]

Brazilian Justice Minister Tarso Genro decided Wednesday to grant asylum to leftist terrorist Cesare Battisti on the grounds that he risked political persecution were he to be extradited to Italy.

Battisti, 54, was convicted in absentia for four murders committed in the late 1970s and sentenced to life after he fled Italy in 1981.

Genro's decision was in contrast with the position of Brazil's National Committee for Refugees, which two months ago voted against granting Battisti asylum. Speaking on a morning radio talk show, Alfano said he would personally contact his Brazilian counterpart ''to explain to him the outrage of Battisti's victims and those of terrorism in general given that Battisti was convicted by a court of law which fully guaranteed his civil rights and he would serve his prison term in accordance with the principles of a democratic country''.

On Wednesday the Italian foreign ministry said it was ''very surprised and disappointed over the decision by the Brazilian justice minister who, ignoring the position of the National Committee for Refugees, granted the appeal by Battisti, a convicted terrorist responsible for serious crimes which have nothing to do with the status of a political refugee''.

On Thursday, the ministry said that ''together with our ambassador in Brazil we are examining all the technical and political alternatives we have to get the decision reviewed''.

Speaking to the press in Brazil, Genro defended his decision and said ''I am absolutely convinced we have adopted the right position'' after determining that Battisti risked persecution in Italy.

In regard to Italy's declared intention to seek a reversal of his decision, the Brazilian justice minister recalled that neither President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva or the courts had the power to do so.

There have also been protests in Brazil over the decision to grant Battisti asylum, mostly in the conservative press and among opposition MPs. Battisti was arrested in Brazil last March, some four years after he had fled to that country to avoid extradition to Italy from France, where he had lived for 15 years and become a successful writer of crime novels.

The Brazilian justice ministry explained that the decision to grant asylum was based on a 1951 Brazilian statute and a subsequent 1997 law which defined the guidelines for granting asylum that included ''the real threat of persecution due to race... or political opinion''.

According to the Brazilian ministry, Battisti had been condemned in Italy only after he had fled to France in 1981 and on evidence not based on fact but on testimony given by a former terrorist turned state's witness, Pietro Mutti. In a recent interview published by the Brazilian magazine Epoca, Battisti said he was convinced that he would be the ''victim of a vendetta'' and a ''dead man'' if he ever returned to Italy.

He also claimed that in 2004 in Brazil he had been the target of an attempted kidnapping ''by a special, secret branch of the Italian intelligence service''.

Battisti is an ex-leader of the 1970s leftist terrorist group Armed Proletarians for Communism (PAC).

There this old Hollywood cliché: Every time a gangster, thief or otherwise immoral yet sympathetic character needed to avoid getting arrested, he would always board the last flight to Rio.

Reality sometimes emulates fiction, it seems...

[The Good]

That's not going to help in having good foreign relations with Italy...

[★Bandiera Rossa☭]

That's not going to help in having good foreign relations with Italy...

Then were will they get their...pizza and Pasta!!!!

[Burnum]

There this old Hollywood cliché: Every time a gangster, thief or otherwise immoral yet sympathetic character needed to avoid getting arrested, he would always board the last flight to Rio.

Reality sometimes emulates fiction, it seems...

Fiction? It's notoriously hard for other Countries to get Brazil to extradite Criminals.

[Lord Consul]

Fiction? It's notoriously hard for other Countries to get Brazil to extradite Criminals.

BS. The only famous case (up until now, that is ) of Brazil refusing to extradite a criminal was that of Ronald Bigg's. He had a Brazilian child so he could not be extradited...

That's not going to help in having good foreign relations with Italy...

Not at all. There's some public outrage there and people are already talking about boycotting Brazilian products and barring Brazil from the upcoming G8+5 talks. I do hope they put some kind of pressure on the Brazilian government, so that they decide to give up on Battisti.

Why do wanted murderers always go to Brazil and Argentina? LOL

That's actually a popular misconception of sorts, one that was cemented during Hollywood's Golden era. Even Hitchcock filmed flicks whose villains later escape to Rio.

I guess it has something to do with the tropical scenery and "sexual effervescence".

[Grof]

o well he will fit right in with the criminals in Rio, they can be best friends

[jankren]

Why do wanted murderers always go to Brazil and Argentina? LOL

[Bovril]

I'm not saying he's not a murderer, but the Italian intelligence services in the early 80s were hardly impartial when it came to things like this.

[Burnum]

BS. The only famous case (up until now, that is ) of Brazil refusing to extradite a criminal was that of Ronald Bigg's. He had a Brazilian child so he could not be extradited...

This was back in the 80's, might of changed.

[jsktrogdor]

, I wasted my frequent flyer miles smuggling opium out of thailand. Do the airlines offer a terrorist discount if I promise not to blow up the plane?

[Lord Consul]

Nope, but just say you're a leftist ecoterrorist when you arrive and you must certainly will be granted asylum.

[Alkarin]

Nope, but just say you're a leftist ecoterrorist when you arrive and you must certainly will be granted asylum.

awsome...

[hellheaven1987]

I want to go Brazil too...

[antares24]

There this old Hollywood cliché: Every time a gangster, thief or otherwise immoral yet sympathetic character needed to avoid getting arrested, he would always board the last flight to Rio.

Reality sometimes emulates fiction, it seems...

this is a pretty big issue here in Italy, there is even talk of recalling the Italian ambassador from Brazil and expel the Brazilian one.
Even Napolitano, the President of the Repubblic, has wrote a letter to Lula to condemn this decisions.

For those that don't know him, Battisti was a far left terrorist who killed four people, among them two policemens, a butcher who tried to resist to Battisti and his group stealing in his shop, and the owner of a Jewelry shop, for the same reason. During this last action, the 13 year old son of the jeweler was shot too and has become a paraplegic thank to his injures. Battisti's group commited other burglaries too.

The fact that a piece of scum such as Battisti was granted the refugee status in Brazil has really ruined the image of that country here in Italy.
Not only becouse he's not sented to Italy, but becouse a Brazilian minister said that it was at risk of "persecutions". In Italy??

Even the European Court of Human Rights sentenced in 2006 that extradition of Battisti (that at the time was in France) was right.

I hope that Brazil reverse his decision, otherwise Italy should wait for things to calm down a bit and then send his secret service to kidnap Battisti, that should then misteriously appear in front of an Italian jail.

[cristophe el perno]

If he's been convicted under a fair and impartial court system, then he should serve his time in Italy. I thought they only persecutated Gypsies in Italy anyway? He should be fine.

Seriously though, he's not being persecuted because of his political beliefs, he's being convicted because of the actions he commited in the name of his political beliefs.

[Bovril]

If he's been convicted under a fair and impartial court system, then he should serve his time in Italy.

That's the contentious point. Many regard the Italian establishment in the early 80s as having been rather less than fair and impartial.

[cristophe el perno]

That's the contentious point. Many regard the Italian establishment in the early 80s as having been rather less than fair and impartial.

If there's doubt about the fairness of his conviction, then retry him before an impartial judge and jury, wherever one might be found. I'm assuming Italy is fairly fair these days?

[Bovril]

If there's doubt about the fairness of his conviction, then retry him before an impartial judge and jury, wherever one might be found. I'm assuming Italy is fairly fair these days?

Yes, but AFAIK the is no proposal to retry him. He could always appeal to the European court of human rights however, though I'm not entirely sure about their jurisdiction in such an old case.

[Lord Consul]

this is a pretty big issue here in Italy, there is even talk of recalling the Italian ambassador from Brazil and expel the Brazilian one.
Even Napolitano, the President of the Repubblic, has wrote a letter to Lula to condemn this decisions.

I've read the letter. Napolitano was entirely right, of course.

For those that don't know him, Battisti was a far left terrorist who killed four people, among them two policemens, a butcher who tried to resist to Battisti and his group stealing in his shop, and the owner of a Jewelry shop, for the same reason. During this last action, the 13 year old son of the jeweler was shot too and has become a paraplegic thank to his injures. Battisti's group commited other burglaries too.

The guy's a murderer. There was absolutely nothing political about this crime.

The fact that a piece of scum such as Battisti was granted the refugee status in Brazil has really ruined the image of that country here in Italy.
Not only becouse he's not sent to Italy, but becouse a Brazilian minister said that it was at risk of "persecutions". In Italy??

The Brazilian Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, is a complete idiot. Luckily they'll all be out of office in a year... When he remarked that Battisti would be in danger if he ever returned to Italy, he implicitly recognizes the Italian justice as corrupt and ineffectual, which is an absurd.

He's a Brazilian government official. He has no right to meddle in Italy's internal affairs.

I hope that Brazil reverse his decision, otherwise Italy should wait for things to calm down a bit and then send his secret service to kidnap Battisti, that should then misteriously appear in front of an Italian jail.

Hopefully the Supreme Federal Tribunal will overturn his decision and send him back to Italy...

[antares24]

The Brazilian Minister of Justice, Tarso Genro, is a complete idiot. Luckily they'll all be out of office in a year... When he remarked that Battisti would be in danger if he ever returned to Italy, he implicitly recognizes the Italian justice as corrupt and ineffectual, which is an absurd.

He's a Brazilian government official. He has no right to meddle in Italy's internal affairs.

you think that he'll be out of office? Isn't the Lula government popular (just asking, i don't know about his approval rating but i seem to remember that at least until some time ago he was doing well in polls, has this changed)?
In that case i hope that Brazil next government change this decision.

Hopefully the Supreme Federal Tribunal will overturn his decision and send him back to Italy...

i hope that too, the thing that i don't understand is why do this, i mean Brazil itself don't get any benefit of any kind from this, and on the other side it ruins diplomatic relation with another country and ruin it's (pretty good until now) image, not just in Italy, becouse everyone that know about this situation will now think that Brazil is a nation that support former terrorists, even if they commited vile crimes such as murder.