Arrested by Interpol at Panama International Airport on December 21, on suspicion of murdering a Brazilian citizen in Philadelphia, in the US state of Pennsylvania, 19-year-old Bruno Menezes de Freitas may be extradited to the United States, and serve life imprisonment without parole. Born in Ipatinga, Minas Gerais, the young man was arrested while making a connection on a flight that left Mexico for Brazil. The extradition request has already been made by the American Justice to the Panamanian authorities.
Freitas had lived in the United States for three years and was accompanied by at least one other Brazilian at the time of the crime, whose responsibility he denies.
According to the US authorities, the homicide was a consequence of the other originally intended crime: committing a robbery against the victim.
In Pennsylvania, despite a moratorium on capital executions (death penalty), robbery (felony murder) is automatically considered second-degree murder (second degree murder), and receives a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.
More than a common extradition, the case of Bruno Freitas assumes contours of potential judicial imbroglio.
The application of life imprisonment to extradited convicts violates the Inter-American Convention on Extradition of the Organization of American States (OAS).
International agreement establishes limits for the application of the penalty
According to the international agreement, extradition should not be granted when the crime is punishable in the requesting country with the death penalty or life imprisonment. “unless the requested State has previously obtained from the requesting State sufficient guarantees, given through the diplomatic channel, that no such penalties will be imposed on the person sought or that, if imposed, such penalties will not be carried out”.
The bilateral treaty in force between the US and Panama also prohibits the extradition of individuals subject in the requesting country to penalties prohibited in the country of origin. If the applicant undertakes not to apply life imprisonment, the maximum possible sentence is the same as in the requested country. That is, in the case of Freitas, if the US guarantees compliance with the international treaty, the Brazilian will be subject to a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, as provided for in Panamanian law.
Two days after the arrest, Bruno Freitas was heard, on December 23, at the first extradition hearing. Without the Brazilian Embassy being alerted, the young man – who does not speak Spanish – was assisted by a Panamanian defender and refused to be sent to the United States, claiming he wanted to return to Brazil.
By audio message, he was able to alert his family and a lawyer was hired in Brazil. On December 27, Bernardo Simões Coelho, representative of Barroso e Coelho Advocacia, arrived in Panama to see the boy. Only the next day, however, did he manage to find him in the building of the National Directorate of Judicial Investigations.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Brazil in Panama City is aware of the case and provides assistance in accordance with current international treaties and local legislation. The folder says that “Brazilians convicted by the US court and imprisoned in the US can be transferred to Brazil to serve the remainder of their sentence, if both countries agree”.
When contacted, the US State Department said it did not comment on extradition matters. The US Department of Justice and Panama’s Superior Attorney for International Affairs did not speak.
The information is from the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.
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