Chilean executive detained in Brazil for racist insults seeks to overturn preventive detention
Germán Naranjo Maldini, detained in Brazil after uttering racist insults on a Latam flight, has sought the revocation of preventive detention and apologised through a letter.
Chilean executive detained in Brazil seeks release from preventive detention following racist incident on Latam flight
According to soychile.cl, the defence team of Chilean executive Germán Naranjo Maldini filed a petition this week before Brazil's Federal Court seeking the revocation of preventive detention. Naranjo was detained in the country for racist insults directed at crew members during a Latam flight.
In a letter dictated to his lawyers, the executive expressed apologies for the verbal abuse and stated that he "believes in all human beings and loves them without distinction".
The incident
The insults took place on 10 May, aboard a flight that departed from Santiago, made a stopover in São Paulo and was destined for Frankfurt, Germany. Naranjo was not detained at that time, but on 15 May, when he returned from Europe to Brazil.
Brazilian law
Law No. 14,532, of 11 January 2023, equates the crime of racism with that of racial slander, a figure that consists of offending a person's honour based on their race, colour, ethnicity, religion or origin.
A similar case in Brazil
The Naranjo case comes shortly after the closure of another high-profile episode. Argentine lawyer Agostina Páez was charged with racial slander after uttering insults and mimicking monkey gestures against employees of a bar in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro.
Legal gap in Chile
In Chile there is no autonomous criminal offence that sanctions racist insults. Although several legislative initiatives have been promoted on this matter, none has become law, according to José Ignacio King Leiva, lawyer and founding partner of the Viñamariño SPA Legal law firm.
Source: Google News CL — Crime