Defense will appeal against Pizzolato's extradition.

The appeal will be submitted to the Administrative Court of Rome this week; the argument is that Henrique Pizzolato is willing to serve his prison sentence in Italy, a provision permitted, according to lawyer Alessandro Sivelli, under the extradition treaty signed between Brazil and Italy; however, for Sivelli, Pizzolato "is only of interest to a few" and his extradition constitutes a "violation of fundamental rights."

May 05, 2015, 13:57 AMUpdated July 06, 2018, 13:52 pm

The appeal will be submitted to the Administrative Court of Rome later this week; the argument is that Henrique Pizzolato is willing to serve his prison sentence in Italy, a provision permitted, according to lawyer Alessandro Sivelli, in the extradition treaty signed between Brazil and Italy; however, for Sivelli, Pizzolato "is only of interest to a few" and his extradition constitutes a "violation of fundamental rights" (Photo: Aquiles Lins)

247 - Lawyers for former Banco do Brasil Marketing Director Henrique Pizzolato confirm they will file an appeal to try to prevent his extradition from Italy to Brazil.

The appeal will be submitted to the Administrative Court of Rome later this week. This time, the argument is that Pizzolato is willing to serve his prison sentence in Italy. According to his lawyer, Alessandro Sivelli, the argument will be based on the extradition treaty signed between Brazil and Italy.

Although ratification had already occurred, the Italian Parliament only turned it into national law two months ago. However, one section of the law allows an Italian citizen who has committed a crime in Brazil to serve their prison sentence in Italy, and vice versa for Brazilians. According to Sivelli, Renzi's government erred in giving the green light and violated the rules of the law approved by Parliament.

For Sivelli, however, Pizzolato "is of interest only to a few" and his extradition constitutes a "violation of fundamental rights." Giovanardi, leader of the Popular Area party in the Senate Justice Committee, had already asked the Italian government to reconsider the decision and said it would be "incomprehensible" for him to be sent to Brazil.

The former director fled Brazil after being sentenced to twelve years and seven months in prison for the Mensalão scandal. However, he was eventually arrested in Italy and, after 18 months of legal proceedings, his extradition was approved by Matteo Renzi's government last week. For his extradition to proceed, however, Brazil must wait for the appeal period to expire on May 11th.