Gol Midair Tragedy Continues In The Courts

Even as US Pilots Joe Lepore and Jan Paladino and four Brazilian Controllers were indicted Friday by a Brazilian judge on manslaughter-related charges, the chief of the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF), told the president and the reporter of the Air Blackout Congressional Inquiry that Brazil's justice system has no means to compel the American pilots to travel their to testify before the congressional committee, reported Brazil Magazine.

The indictments stem from the September 2006 midair collision of a Embraer Legacy 600 jet with a Gol Airlines 737 that killed154 people. It was Brazil's worst air accident ever; the two pilots and the five passengers aboard the smaller jet were able to land safely in a Brazilian Air Force base airport.

The congressional inquiry is probing not only the Boeing tragedy but the whole Brazilian air transportation system, which went into a "state of chaos" on several occasions since the 2006 plane accident over the Amazon.

According to Brazilian Supreme Court Chief Ellen Gracie Northfleet, the cooperation agreement on penal matters between Brazil and the US does not give the congressional committee the right to summon Americans to testify in Brazil.

"This is our main problem at the moment," complained House Representative Marco Maia. "From a juridical point of view and from the agreements signed by Brazil with other countries, we have no guarantee that we can indeed hear the pilots."

The Supreme Chief suggested that the congressmen appeal to the Foreign Ministry of the Brazilian embassy in Washington to convince Lepore and Paladino to travel to Brazil. Should that fail, the inquiry committee will try to fly to the US to get the American pilots testimony. Yet another option would be to question them via videoconferencing.

As ANN reported last Friday, Brazilian federal judge Murilo Mendes indicted the two Americans for involuntary manslaughter. Four Brazilian air controllers, all of them Air Force sergeants and all working at Brasília's air control center, were also indicted by the same judge.

While three of the flight controllers are being charged with involuntary manslaughter, one is being accused of intentional manslaughter.

Judge Mendes determined that the pilots would be interrogated on August 27 and made it clear that they would have to travel to Brazil for that "not being allowed that the act occur at their native country - the United States."

The penalty for involuntary manslaughter is one to three years in jail, but aggravating factors might lead to up to six years in prison. For willful manslaughter, as one air controller is charged, the penalty can vary from 8 to 24 years of detention.

FMI: www.brasilemb.org, www.stf.gov.br