Chilean executive held in Brazil over racism charges seeks release from preventive detention
The defence of Germán Naranjo Maldini has requested that Brazil's Federal Court revoke his preventive detention. The executive was arrested over racist insults directed at Latam airline crew members.
Naranjo Maldini's lawyers present arguments to Brazilian court
According to ex-ante.cl, the defence team of Chilean executive Germán Naranjo Maldini — arrested in Brazil for racist insults during a Latam flight — presented a formal request this week to the Federal Court to revoke the preventive detention imposed against him.
In a letter dictated to his lawyers, Naranjo Maldini apologised for the verbal abuse directed at the flight crew. In the document he stated that he believed in all human beings and loved them without distinction.
The insults took place on 10 May, aboard a flight that departed from Santiago, made a stopover in São Paulo and had Frankfurt as its final destination. Naranjo Maldini was not arrested at that time: Brazilian authorities arrested him on 15 May, when he returned to Brazil from Europe.
Legal framework in Brazil
Law no. 14,532, of 11 January 2023, treats the offence of racism as equivalent to racial injury in Brazil. This charge consists of insulting a person's honour on the basis of elements linked to race, colour, ethnicity, religion or origin.
The case comes shortly after another high-profile incident in Brazil. Argentine lawyer Agostina Páez was charged with racial insults after hurling abuse and making monkey gestures at bar employees in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro.
Legal gap in Chile
In Chile, by contrast, there is no standalone criminal offence that sanctions racist insults, according to José Ignacio King Leiva, lawyer and founding partner of Viñamariño SPA Legal firm. Although there have been several legislative initiatives to that effect, none has become law.
Source: Google News CL — Crime