After being released in Italy, former federal deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) recorded a video celebrating her release by the country’s courts. Alongside the lawyers working in her defense in Rome, she thanked them for their work. The recording was posted by state deputy Bruno Zambelli (PL-SP) on his Instagram profile on Friday night:
— I’m already out here because this man here, Pieremilio Sammarco, and Alessandro Sammarco, here in Italy, with other helpers, and the help from Fabio (Pagnozzi, lawyer) when he needed it in Brazil, did the impossible, which is fighting against a very difficult system. He didn’t give up on me. When everything was lost and we thought it wasn’t going to work, I said: “If you want, you can abandon the cause”. And he said: “I will not abandon you, I will be with you until the end”.
The Italian Court of Cassation, the highest instance of Italian justice, annulled the decision that had authorized the extradition of Carla Zambelli and ordered the release of the former deputy.
The defense reported that it is still analyzing the effects of the decision to define the next steps. Among the doubts is whether Zambelli should remain in Italy or whether she will be able to travel to another country without being detained, as her name is on Interpol’s red list.
The Italian court’s decision to release her was taken in the same week that STF minister Alexandre de Moraes ordered the Ministry of Justice and Itamaraty to adopt measures to facilitate the extradition of the Bolsonarist. Moraes’ order was based on a previous decision by the Italian Court, in Rome, in favor of the Brazilian request.
The two cases are linked to the convictions imposed by the STF on the former parliamentarian. In the case of the invasion of the National Justice Council (CNJ) systems, Zambelli was sentenced to ten years in prison. It was based on this sentence that Brazil requested his extradition from the Italian Court, which in March had given a favorable opinion to the request.
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According to the defense, the Court of Cassation’s decision also affects the second extradition request presented by Brazil, related to the conviction for illegal possession of a firearm and illegal restraint.
Zambelli, who has Italian citizenship, left Brazil in May last year. After passing through the United States, he moved to Italy. Two months later, she was arrested and declared that she intended to be tried in the European country.
In December, the Chamber of Deputies rejected the impeachment of the then parliamentarian in an attempt to preserve her mandate. The STF, however, annulled the vote and directly determined the loss of the mandate due to the criminal conviction.
While the extradition process was being processed in Italy, the country’s courts kept Zambelli imprisoned in the Rebibbia women’s penitentiary, in Rome, considering that there was a risk of escape.
