**Brazil’s Supreme Court has approved the extradition of former left-wing militant Cesare Battisti to Italy.**The court has yet to decide whether its decision was final or if President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva needed to approve the move, AFP news agency reported.
Battisti was convicted in absentia in his home country for four murders. He has denied any role in the killings.
He escaped from an Italian prison in 1981, and lived in France until fleeing to Brazil in 2004.
Brazil’s Supreme Court had been deadlocked over the case, with the hearing continuing there for more than two months before Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes cast the decisive vote.
The murders for which Battisti was convicted were “common crimes” rather than political acts, Mr Mendes ruled.
Battisti started a hunger strike in recent days in an effort to oppose his extradition.