Federal deputy Carla Zambelli (Liberal Party) was arrested on Tuesday (29) in Italy after her location was reported to local authorities. She had been on the run since June 5 for orchestrating a digital invasion of Brazil’s Council of Justice (CNJ, in Portuguese) system.
The information about the apartment on the sixth floor of a building in Rome, where the Brazilian parliamentarian was hiding, came from left-wing deputy Angelo Bonelli, a member of the Green Alliance party.
“Yesterday [Tuesday] at 6:40 p.m., I received information about Carla Zambelli’s address, with a pending Interpol warning against her. At 7:50 p.m., I informed the national police, represented by the Rome Police Chief, of Zambelli’s address,” he told Brasil de Fato.
Zambelli was found in an apartment in the Aurélio neighborhood, near the Vatican, in the Italian capital.
“I fulfilled my duty as a citizen, unlike those who, using their Italian citizenship, declared themselves untouchable, as Carla Zambelli herself stated in an interview with CNN Brasil on June 3.”
“Carla Zambelli is an important name in the party of Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president, whom the Brazilian judiciary is seeking to convict for an attempted coup after the 2022 Brazilian elections.”
The complaint filed by Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office, which led to Zambelli’s conviction, alleges that she and hacker Walter Delgatti coordinated attacks on the CNJ’s systems to discredit the justice system and incite anti-democratic acts.
Carla Zambelli was sentenced to 10 years in prison initially in closed custody, loss of her parliamentary mandate, and ineligibility. The Brazilian Ministry of Justice had already officially requested her extradition.
The parliamentarian chose Italy as her hiding place due to her Italian citizenship.
The Italian deputy says he has been threatened on social media because of his allegations about Zambelli’s presence in Italy.
“Recently, I have received threatening messages on social media, including death threats, because of this case. Now it will be up to the Italian courts to decide, and then it will be up to the government to decide on Zambelli’s extradition.”
