BRASILIA, Brazil, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Brazil's outgoing president says he will decide this week whether to grant Italy's request to extradite convicted terrorist Cesare Battisti.
Battisti is a member of the armed Proletarians for Communism, which supported violent revolution from the 1960s through 1980s. It was during these "Years of Lead" period Christian Democratic leader Aldo Moro, a former Italian prime minister, was kidnapped and assassinated.
Battisti, 56, was convicted in absentia on 36 charges in Italy and given a life sentence before fleeing to Brazil to avoid possible extradition.
Outgoing Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva said he wanted the question of Battisti's extradition resolved before his successor takes office Jan. 1, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Monday.
"This is not a problem regarding sovereignty, it is a juridical question. When the attorney general gives his opinion, then I will make my decision.
"I have never said what my opinion is. Once (Attorney General) Luis Inacio (Lucena Adams) expresses his view, I will act accordingly."
Battisti was arrested in Brazil in April 2007, five years after he arrived there to avoid Italian extradition from France where he had been living for 15 years writing crime novels, ANSA said.
The Brazilian Justice Ministry granted Battisti political asylum in January 2009 saying he would face "political persecution" in Italy.
