Premier Silvio Berlusconi stressed that diplomatic relations with Brazil remain unchanged. But after meeting with Alberto Torregiani, whose father was killed in 1979, Berlusconi said Italy considers the Battisti case a matter of justice that it will pursue at all levels.
Brazil, however, reaffirmed its decision and warned the EU not to get involved.
Battisti, a former leftist rebel, was convicted in absentia of four murders carried out in the late 1970s. He lived as a fugitive in Mexico and France before fleeing in 2004 to Brazil, where he was arrested in 2007 on an Interpol warrant.
Battisti has admitted to participating in a rebel group but has denied he ever shot anyone.
On his last day in office Dec. 31, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva refused to extradite Battisti, who has repeatedly said he fears persecution if sent back to Italy.
Italy has denounced Silva’s decision and said it would pursue all judicial means in Brazil to reverse it; the Brazilian Supreme Court is to rule on the legality of Silva’s decision.
On Tuesday, Italy’s government indicated it was taking the matter to the European Union.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini met with Italy’s recalled ambassador to Brazil and Italy’s EU representative to study legal options at the European level to pressure Brazil to turn Battisti over, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
But it wasn’t clear what the EU could do.
“It is basically a bilateral issue” said European Commission spokesman Michael Mann, adding also that general rules on extradition also made it difficult for the EU to get involved.
The Foreign Ministry disputed that, saying: “The case is far more complex and one cannot exclude, including in the coming hours, a European initiative proposed by Italy on the question,” a statement said.
Jose Eduardo Cardozo, Brazil’s new minister of justice, stood by Silva’s decision and said other countries should respect it since it reflects Brazil’s sovereignty.
“I sincerely don’t believe that other countries, independently of how they judge the incident, would take an initiative that would be considered offensive to the established rules of engagement among nations,” he told the BBC Brasilia.
“The sovereignty of a country, in decisions of this type, is respected in international law.” Meanwhile, a sit-in was planned Tuesday in front of Brazil’s embassy to Italy in Rome’s central Piazza Navona.
A group involved in the protest, the Res Movement, has proposed a boycott of Brazilian products to press the Battisti case.
