The execution of a search and seizure warrant by the Civil police on Wednesday (20) drew even more attention to the story of a woman in an abandoned house in Higienópolis, in the central region of Sao Paulo .
Margarida Bonetti, 63, is heir to a wealthy family and, according to the newspaper’s podcast Folha de S. Paulois suspected of keeping a domestic worker in work analogous to slavery for 20 years, when she lived in the United States .
Given the repercussion of the case, doubts arise.
One of the main ones is: Can Margarida Bonetti be punished for possible crimes committed outside Brazil more than two decades ago?
According to jurists consulted by the The State of São Paulothe crimes have already expired and, because she is a Brazilian citizen, she could not be extradited.
Marcelo Gondim, a lawyer licensed in California and specialized in immigration to the United States, says that crimes are also prescribed in American law, as in Brazil, but the period varies according to the state.
“The general rule is five years”, explains the specialist. “On the other hand, crimes of terrorism and rape against minors are not time-barred,” adds the founder of Los Angeles-based Gondim Law Corp.
Yuri Carneiro Coelho, professor of Criminal Law, says that in Brazil crime would also have expired.
“It is pointed out that the crime took place in 2000. The crime committed would have been reduction to a condition analogous to slavery, with a penalty of 2 to 8 years. In this case, the offense would expire in 12 years. She could even be prosecuted in Brazil, but the incidence of prescription leads to the extinction of her punishment”, she argues.
Gondim explains that the characterization of a working condition similar to slavery, a crime of which Margarida is accused, refers, in most situations, to the payment of wages below the minimum values required by American labor rules.
The Brazilian Constitution prohibits the extradition of citizens to serve sentences for possible crimes abroad.
In this context, lawyer Acacio Miranda da Silva Filho, a master in International Criminal Law, recalls that there is a difference between Margarida Bonetti and her husband Renê, also accused of slavery against the maid, according to the Folha podcast.
“René was tried and convicted, as he renounced Brazilian citizenship when he went to the United States, unlike Margarida, who did not renounce her Brazilian citizenship, returned and could not be extradited,” he says.
It is the same understanding of lawyer Domingos Sávio Zainaghi.
“If a Brazilian acquires the citizenship of this other country, he may lose his Brazilian nationality. Then he would be a foreigner. In this case, extradition may occur”, the expert points out.
Renê Bonetti was tried, convicted and imprisoned in the United States. After serving his sentence, the engineer was released and, also according to the podcast, works as a director at Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, in the United States.
Margarida was not arrested and returned to Brazil at the time of the trial, also according to a report in Folha de S. Paulo.
According to the podcast, the victim of the Bonetti couple, who prefers not to be identified, is 85 years old and still lives in the United States.
She is in good health and lives off an indemnity she received from Renê after the process was concluded.
The report tried to contact Margarida Bonetti, but still had no response.
Source: CNN Brasil
