A man convicted of rape and murder in Colombia fled to Brazil and, for more than two decades, has lived in the country undisturbed by law enforcement authorities, despite an international injunction against him.
Finally detained last year in Belo Horizonte —the city to which he moved after the murder and where he raised a family—, Jaime Enrique Saade Cormane was eventually released after his extradition was denied by the STF (Supreme Federal Court) because his crime had already expired.
The case began in January 1994, when Nancy Mariana Mestre, 18, was raped and killed in Barranquilla, Colombia. The crime took place after a New Year’s Eve party to which she was accompanied by her then-boyfriend, Saade.
In July 1996, Colombian courts sentenced the man to 27 years in prison for the crime — but he was never arrested in his home country. His lawyer, Fernando Gomes de Oliveira, denies that Saade committed the crimes for which he was convicted.
According to the court’s decision, Saade raped Nancy, shot her in the head and, with her father’s help, took the victim to a clinic. The young woman died nine days later from her injuries.
He disappeared and was never seen in Colombian territory again, prompting Interpol to issue an arrest warrant for his capture.
With the disappearance, Nancy’s father, Martín Mestre, started to lead the search to find him.
As he told the Spanish newspaper El País, Martín got clues that could indicate the location of Saade after conversations on social media.
According to Nancy’s father, his insistence on the search resulted in clues that helped Interpol to identify, in Belo Horizonte, a man who matched the wanted profile.
Saade was finally detained in January 2020 by the Federal Police, after authorization from the STF. When arrested at his home in the capital of Minas Gerais, he was carrying false documents with the name of Henrique dos Santos Abdala — the Federal Court is still analyzing whether he committed a new crime for that.
He had lived in Brazil for 24 years, during which time he had a stable relationship with a Brazilian woman and had two children. Currently, he worked in a laundry in the northern region of Belo Horizonte.
After his arrest, the Colombian government asked for his extradition — in these cases, the decision rests with the STF.
The judgment, held by the Second Panel of the Court in September 2020, ended in a draw. Ministers Gilmar Mendes and Carmen Lúcia voted in favor of extradition, while Edson Fachin and Ricardo Lewandowski were against. The fifth minister, Celso de Mello, was on leave. According to the law, in cases of this type, a tie favors the defendant. Therefore, extradition was denied.
“They resolved the fate of my daughter’s murderer as if it were a football game. I cried a lot, I cried a lot for this case, but I didn’t have time to mourn, always investigating. But I don’t get tired, I will never faint,” Martín told El País.
The argument that justified the decision was that the crime had already expired because more than 20 years have passed since the conviction in Colombia. In October 2020, Saade was released and is now free for crimes of misrepresentation and false documents.
Jaime Saade’s lawyer told the leaf that your customer “emphatically denies [ter cometido o crime] and has the situation as a tragedy that happened in his life”.
According to the defender, as the extradition process has already been final and unappealable, there is no longer a legal possibility that he will be sent to Colombia. Regarding the false documentation process, the defense’s expectation is that, if Saade is convicted, the sanction will be converted into a penalty restricting rights.
According to the Regional Superintendence of the Federal Police in Minas Gerais, in May 2019, the Interpol representation in the state was informed that evidence indicated that Saade was using a false name and living in Belo Horizonte.
From that name, he was identified and located in the capital of Minas Gerais in August 2019. Then, the usual procedures of contacting the Colombian government were carried out to confirm the validity of the warrant and interest in arresting the fugitive in question.
“As soon as they provided information about the fugitive in our country, several investigations were carried out, culminating in the arrest of the fugitive,” stated the Federal Police.
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