Brazil refuses to hand over Italian killer

BRASILIA, Brazil, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Brazil's president, on his last day in office, refused Friday to extradite a convicted terrorist to Italy, infuriating Rome.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told ANSA he was recalling Italy's ambassador from Brasilia and would appeal to Dilma Rousseff, who becomes president Saturday, to reverse President Inacio Lula da Silva's decision.

"I express deep bitterness and regret about President Lula's decision to deny the extradition of multiple murderer Cesare Battisti," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.

Battisti, 56, a member of a leftist militant group in the 1970s, has been convicted of four murders in Italy. He is seeking political asylum in Brazil, saying his life would be in peril if he went home.

Battisti must remain in a Brazilian jail at least until February, and his case is headed back to the supreme court, which ruled for extradition last year.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim voiced "amazement" at Italy's fury and called "impertinent" a Thursday statement by Berlusconi that failure to extradite Battisti would be "unacceptable."

Battisti was arrested in Brazil in 2007, five years after he fled there to avoid extradition to Italy after 15 years in France.