Diplomat: Brazil's president-elect favors extraditing activist sentenced to life in Italy

Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Brazilian President-elect Jair Bolsonaro agrees with Italy that a former leftist activist-turned-author who lives in Brazil should be extradited due to a life sentence for four killings, Italy's Ambassador to Brazil said.

Cesare Battisti was sentenced in absentia in Italy for the killings in the 1970s, France 24 reported, but he's never been sent to Italy to face the sentence.

Battisti, 63, has written several crime novels and says he's innocent of murder charges. He lives freely in Brazil.

"Italy wants extradition. The case is being decided by the Supreme Federal Court Tribunal and we await a decision in the shortest possible time," ambassador Antonio Bernardini said after meeting with Bolsonaro Monday, Folha de Sao Paulo reported.

A Brazilian court approved an extradition request by the Italian government in 2009. The following year, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rejected it. Top state prosecutor Raquel Dodge said in May the government had power to reverse that decision.

Lula, who has led the left in Brazil for nearly two decades, is now himself in jail on graft charges. Bolsonaro, elected on a campaign noted for views criticizing Brazilian left-oriented organizations and politicians, said during his campaign he would "immediately" agree to Battisti's extradition.

Bolsonaro's son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, wrote on Twitter last month after the victory of his father "the gift will soon arrive". At the time, Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini immediately replied, "I will come get him in person," according to France24. Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian legislator, was widely supported during his campaign for office.

Battisti escaped an Italian jail nearly four decades ago while awaiting trial. He has admitted he was a member of a group named Armed Proletarians for Communism, but denies participation in any murder.

Battisti had previously lived in France, benefiting from a safe-haven offer made by former French President Francois Mitterrand to activists who'd renounced violence. France rejected an Italian extradition request in 1991.