The Italian Court of Cassation is expected to analyze this Wednesday, 1st, the second extradition request of former deputy Carla Zambelli (PL-SP) sent by Brazil. The new case concerns her conviction, by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), for illegal possession of a firearm and embarrassment on the eve of the second round of the 2022 elections.
Last week, the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) filed the request and forwarded to the Italian Court information provided by the STF to demonstrate the regularity of the conviction and meet the guarantees required by the authorities of the European country.
Among them are the indication of the place where the sentence would be served, the former deputy’s access to lawyers, family members and diplomatic representatives of Italy and the possibility of sending periodic information to the Italian government, upon formal request.
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The new request reaches the Court of Cassation after the rejection of the first, related to her conviction for the invasion of the systems of the National Justice Council (CNJ) and the insertion of a false arrest warrant against Minister Alexandre de Moraes, in January 2023. The Italian Court understood that Moraes acted under a “double disguise”, as rapporteur of the process and a person directly affected by the crime.
Despite this precedent, experts consulted by the Estadão state that the new trial is not automatically linked to the previous decision and must be analyzed autonomously. At the same time, the previous decision tends to make the examination more rigorous.
“These are different facts, which occurred at different times, and whose judgment of the criminal actions had different rapporteurs at the Supreme Court”, quotes Eduardo Lycurgo Leite, vice-president of the National Federation of Lawyers’ Institutes (Fenia). In the second case, the rapporteur was minister Gilmar Mendes.
Internationalist lawyer Rita de Cássia da Silva, a specialist in Foreigners’ Law, assesses that the Italian Court could adopt three paths: authorize the extradition, request new guarantees from the Brazilian State before deciding or deny the request again, if it concludes that doubts persist about the guarantees, due legal process or the conditions required by the Italian legal system.
If the request is approved, the arrival of Zambelli, who left the prison where she was held in Rome after the first denial, will not be immediate. Administrative, diplomatic and logistical steps still remain between the two countries, in addition to the possibility of using the resources provided for in Italian legislation.
The two experts also point out that the possible sending of the former deputy to serve a sentence for illegal possession of a firearm and embarrassment does not presuppose that she will also serve the sentence related to the process of invading the CNJ systems. “To do this, new authorization from the Italian Court would be necessary or another hypothesis permitted by the bilateral treaty and by International Law”, says the lawyer.
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Extradition, an instrument of international legal cooperation, is governed by the so-called specialty principle. As a rule, it establishes that the country that receives the extradited person can only prosecute him or execute the sentence related to the crime that was the basis for the accepted request. Failure to comply with this rule may raise questions about a possible violation of the extradition treaty and affect legal cooperation between the two countries.
Eduardo Lycurgo also highlights the legal-political nature of these processes, in which, according to him, in addition to legal issues, it is necessary that the country that is responsible for authorizing the extradition has the political will to do so.
“If Brazil demonstrates that the criminal action was processed respecting the right of defense and due legal process, there is a chance that this second request will be accepted by the Italian Court. But this does not mean that the extradition will be finalized, as it still has a political element and it will be up to the Italian government, in the end, to decide whether, in fact, it will extradite the former deputy or not.”
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If the Italian Court rejects the extradition again, the decision does not prevent Brazil from resorting to other international legal cooperation mechanisms, such as the possibility of recognition and eventual execution of the Brazilian sentence in Italian territory.
