Conservative Brazilian MP Appeals to Italy for Non-Extradition After Arrest in Rome

Rome: Conservative Brazilian congresswoman-turned-fugitive Carla Zambelli has appealed to Italy not to extradite her to her homeland after she was arrested in Rome on Tuesday. Zambelli, a prominent member of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s party, became a fugitive in May when the Brazilian supreme court upheld a 10-year jail sentence against her for hacking the computer system of the National Council of Justice (CNJ).

According to Ansa News Agency, Zambelli, who holds Italian citizenship, arrived in Italy on a flight from Miami. Through her lawyer, Pieremilio Sammarco, who visited her in Rome’s Rebibbia prison, Zambelli claimed, “In Brazil, I suffered political persecution, was convicted without evidence and without any defensive guarantees.” She further expressed her determination, stating, “I am not giving up, my hope is that Italy will oppose my extradition.”

The case took a turn when Angelo Bonelli, an Italian MP for the Green-Left Alliance (AVS), revealed that he tipped off the police about Zambelli’s whereabouts in Rome. Sammarco noted, “The interest of some politicians in the case is also helpful in bringing out what happened to Zambelli in the Brazilian courtrooms.”