Dell’Utri extradition request finalized

P(ANSA) – Rome, May 5 – Justice Minister Andrea Orlando said Monday that Italy’s extradition request to Lebanon for Marcello Dell’Utri, former Senator and senior advisor to ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, has been finalized.BRDell’Utri was captured in the capital of Lebanon last month, where he had allegedly fled Italian justice ahead of a likely final jail conviction on Friday for Mafia ties.BRHe was later hospitalized under police guard in Beirut.BRBerlusconi has said that charges against his former close aide and co-founder of the ex-premier’s Forza Italia political party were an “invention” and Dell’Utri has been “tortured for 20 years by absurd accusations”.BRDell’Utri, 72, has said that he did not intend to evade authorities by leaving Italy, but had been out of the country for medical tests.BRHe had appealed to Italy’s supreme Court of Cassation for a final decision on his seven-year conviction for links to the Sicilian Cosa Nostra Mafia imposed in March.BRSources have told ANSA that the extradition request was slowed because court authorities in Beirut had requested all documents related to the extradition be translated from Italian into Arabic.BR/P
pa href=”http://ansa.feedsportal.com/c/34225/f/621716/s/3a143c49/sc/1/l/0L0Sansa0Bit0Cenglish0Cnews0Cgeneral0Inews0C20A140C0A50C0A50Cdellutri0Eextradition0Erequest0Efinalized0I72ae83880E58e10E48470E91150E0A60Ae87f560Aeb0Bhtml/story01.htm” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”View the original article here/a/p