Italian court may withdraw Bolsonaro’s citizenship

The municipal grant of honorary Italian citizenship to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) has been challenged in court by residents of the city of Anguillara Veneta. He received it in 2021 from the far-right mayor, Alessandra Buoso, justifying the measure by the fact that a great-grandfather of Bolsonaro was born in the city.

The Supreme Court of Italy has indicated that, in extreme cases, Justice can intervene to withdraw the honorary citizenship granted to controversial characters, such as Bolsonaro, who is the defendant in several inquiries and criminal proceedings in Justice, although he has not yet been convicted.

According to a report by the Ansa news agency, the United Civil Sections of the Court of Cassation were provoked to answer whether there could be competent civil or administrative judges to assess a popular action brought by the residents of the city of less than five thousand inhabitants in northern Italy.

Read also: Italian city receives Bolsonaro under protests and rejects tribute

Since the day Bolsonaro appeared there, the small commune has been tumultuous by protests against the honor. Even with a rainy day, the former president’s visit was marked by protests, curses and graffiti.

judicial intervention

According to the Supreme Court, this recognition is “purely symbolic” and depends only “on an autonomous determination” by the city councils, and citizens who disagree should not go to court, but rather use “the instruments of constitutional freedoms”, such as the discussions in the Legislature and debates in the streets and in the press.

However, the court stressed that possible judicial intervention “cannot be excluded in extreme cases”, such as in situations where “honorary citizenship is granted to an absolutely unworthy person because he has been convicted of serious crimes”.

Read also: Italian city revolts with proposal of citizenship to Bolsonaro

According to the Supreme Court, this would be done not to intervene in an “act in itself unproductive, but to punish the consequences of an offensive fact to that common sense of justice in relation to individual values ​​and democratic freedoms”.