The Court of Cassation of Rome, the highest instance of Italian justice, decided this Friday (22) to reject the request for extradition of former deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) to Brazil. Imprisoned in Rome since July, she was convicted by the Federal Supreme Court (STF) in two cases that have already become final.
The decision now transfers the final word on the case to the Italian government. It will be up to the Italian Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, to decide within 45 days whether or not to authorize the sending of Zambelli to Brazil.
If the extradition is approved, the Brazilian government will have 20 days to organize the return of the former parliamentarian.
The trial took place behind closed doors and brought together six magistrates from the Court of Cassation.
Defense cites “vices” in the process
During the trial, lawyer Pieremilio Sammarco maintained that the process conducted in Brazil would present irregularities incompatible with the Italian legal system. According to him, the defense pointed out “numerous procedural defects” and also questioned the conditions of the Brazilian prison system.
Sammarco stated that the Italian justice system stopped facing arguments linked to prison conditions in Brazil, including issues such as the minimum size of cells and the health situation of the former deputy.
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The Italian Court of Appeal, however, had previously rejected the thesis of human rights violations in Brazilian prisons. Brazil informed the Italian authorities that Zambelli would eventually serve a sentence in the Federal District Women’s Penitentiary, known as Colmeia.
In addition to the dispute over extradition, the defense is trying to reverse the former deputy’s preventive detention in Italy. A new request for freedom will be analyzed by the Court of Appeal on the 26th. Lawyers claim Zambelli’s health condition worsened during the period of detention, although they did not detail the clinical picture.
Convictions in the STF led to a request
The extradition requests were formalized after the definitive closure of criminal proceedings in the STF. Without the possibility of new appeals, the sentences began to be executed immediately.
Zambelli resigned from his parliamentary mandate in December last year. The decision came after the Supreme Court annulled a session of the Chamber of Deputies that had maintained the parliamentarian’s mandate even after a favorable opinion on her revocation was approved by the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ).
The former deputy left Brazil after the legal proceedings progressed and began responding to the actions from Italy, a country of which she also has citizenship.
