Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux decided on Thursday (13th) to issue a warrant to arrest Italian left-wing militant Cesare Battisti. The order might be the first step to start extradition proceedings against him, either in the current Temer administration or after president-elect Jair Bolsonaro is sworn into office.
The justice's decision was first reported by news broadcast Jornal Nacional, from TV Globo.
Battisti lives in freedom in Brazil since 2010. He currently resides in Cananeia, on the coast of São Paulo. At first, the Brazilian Supreme Court was debating whether he should be directly extradited to Italy, as requested by the European country's officials, but opted to leave it for then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to decide on the matter.
Lula chose not to deport the activist. Battisti was sentenced in Italy for the murder of four people.
Now, Justice Fux decided that the political decision over Battisti's deportation has grounds for revision. Folha asked the Supreme Court for further clarification but has not obtained any comment until the time of publication.
Attorney General Raquel Dodge moved fast and requested the Supreme Court to issue a preventive arrest warrant on the same day.
Battisti's defense team says that Lula's 2010 decision of vetoing the Italian activist's extradition is irreversible.
Translated by NATASHA MADOV