Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court decreed on Wednesday (4) the pre-trial detention of Federal Deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP), sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Court. The minister also determined the inclusion of the parliamentarian in the Red List of Interpol, as well as blocking his assets and passports, including the diplomatic.
Zambelli left Brazil days after the conviction and claims to be in Europe, where he intends to perform medical treatment. The deputy signaled that she will ask for license from office and has used Italian citizenship as an argument to make a possible extradition process difficult.
Condemnation and accusations
The deputy was for the first class of the Supreme Court for the crimes of ideological falsehood and invasion of computerized system, guiding hacker Walter Delgatti Neto to insert false documents in the National Council of Justice (CNJ) system. Among the forged archives was an arrest warrant against Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
In addition, Zambelli responds to another STF inquiry related to the episode in which he drew a firearm against a man in Sao Paulo, on the eve of the second round of the 2022 elections.
The case rekindles the debate on the extradition of Brazilians with double nationality. Although Brazil and Italy maintain a bilateral extradition treaty, the Italian Constitution prohibits the extradition of its own citizens, except in exceptions involving diplomatic agreements or voluntary repatriation.
Nevertheless, Italian jurisprudence has already opened exception. In 2015, former Banco do Brasil director Henrique Pizzolato, also an Italian citizen, was extradited to Brazil after a long legal dispute. The State Council of Italy authorized extradition, provided that Brazil guaranteed adequate conditions of incarceration and respect for due process.
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The treaty between the two countries establishes preventive clauses, such as:
- prescription of the crime;
- Risk of political or religious persecution;
- Judgment by Exception Court;
- Typification as a political crime.
These clauses, however, depend on the interpretation of Italian justice, which will evaluate the legal nature of the condemnation of the parliamentary. There is also a margin for voluntary repatriation, if the Italian government decides that Zambelli’s presence is risk or affront to local legislation.
Repercussion in Italy
The case has already begun to reverberate in the Italian political scene. This Wednesday (5), Deputy Angelo Bonelli, member of the Green Alliance and Left Coalition ,.
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“We expect a quick response from the government. Italy risks becoming a paradise for scammers,” Bonelli said in a statement. He added that Zambelli is a “Bolsonaro party exponent” and has been convicted of an STF’s unanimous decision.
Although the Italian government has not yet officially pronounced, the politicization of the case may transform the extradition process into a diplomatic impasse, with developments in the European Union.
Test for diplomacy
The outcome of the case depends on the position of the Italian government and the Brazilian diplomatic articulation. An extradition or deportation of Zambelli may create a new international precedent involving parliamentarians with double citizenship and the reach of STF decisions outside the national territory.
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If Italy deny the request for extradition, the case may aggravate institutional tensions and boost political movements of contestation to Brazilian judicial decisions abroad.
