The Brazilian Federal police may continue their hide and seek game until the last minute. Alleging concern for the American pilots security they have announced several different venues and times for what could become a rowdy international media circus.
According to the announcement made last night, December 7, Joe Lepore and Jan Paladino, the pilots from the Legacy executive jet that collided with a Boeing 737 resulting in the deaths of all 154 aboard, will testify, today, at 8 am, at the São Paulo Federal Police district headquarters.
It is expected that they will be indicted under the Brazilian Penal Code’s article 261 charged with exposing to danger Brazil’s air traffic security.
Since the collision resulted in the fall of the Boeing authorities are still unsure whether they will accuse them of involuntary manslaughter or the graver crime of culpable homicide.
All indicate that they will be charged with involuntary manslaughter, meaning that the Brazilian authorities believe that they didn’t hit the other plane or kill those aboard intentionally.
For whatever they are indicted if convicted they should get at least two years of jail time.
Ramon Almeida da Silva, the federal police chief who in is charge of the criminal inquiry on the Boeing crash, told reporters that he is worried about the security and the physical integrity of Lepore and Paladino.
That would explain why he changed so many times the place where the pilots are supposed to give their testimony. Silva and Rubens José Maleiner, another police chief in the case and both from the state of Mato Grosso, where the Boeing fell down, have been in São Paulo since yesterday.
All this indefiniteness about where to interview the Americans might also have been a result of a strategy conceived by the pilots lawyers. One version circulating in the Brazilian pressrooms yesterday was that they had agreed to bring their two clients as asked by the police as long as the media had no access to them.
On Thursday, the Prosecuting Office asked that the 1st Region’s Regional Federal Court temporarily suspend the order to return the passports to the two pilots. The request was made by prosecutors Adriana Brocks and Elton Ghersel.
They want the court to allow them time in the coming days to decide if they appeal or not the decision to give the passports back to the pilots.
A last-minute about face could still happen today before 6 pm, Brazilian time, the deadline given by the Justice for the passports to be returned. Carlos Olavo, the Regional Federal Court’s vice-president, is the judge who will decide to grant or not this injunction.
The Federal Police made it very clear that they wish to hear the pilots before they return to the United States and that they will not give the documents back before they interview the two of them.
Since October 3, Lepore and Paladino have been in virtual house arrest in a Marriott Hotel at Copacabana beach in Rio. Despite all the fun around they have been locked in their suite for more than two months.
Before they are handed their passports they will have to sign a paper in which they promise to go back to Brazil to take part in a criminal investigation if asked to do so.
