A Brazilian model shocked her country’s legal system after she was arrested earlier this year for public indecency while walking her dog naked, according to a report.
Caroline Werner, 37, was handcuffed in May after police stopped her for being outside topless while walking across the street from the beach in Balneário Camboriú, a coastal town in southern Brazil.
Now Werner is criticizing whether Brazil’s constitution extends the same freedom to women as men — who are free shirtless in public, according to Brazilian outlet G1.
“Unfortunately in my country, although the Constitution ensures gender equality, in practice this does not happen, I cannot have the same freedom and I feel forced to do so by this system and the oppressive interpretation of the law,” he told the outlet. . “What should be natural to both sexes is finally denied to one of them in an arbitrary and oppressive manner.”
Werner said she decided to put on her top while walking her dog home from a day at the beach and was approached by several officers, who arrested her, loaded her into a van and took her to the police station where she was given a blouse to cover up.
Caroline Werner was arrested after taking her dog naked. CEN
He claims the police violated his due process rights by not allowing him to make phone calls to his family or attorney.
“When I arrived at the police station, they took me to a dark cell, where I was handcuffed to the cell fence, without the right to communicate with any family members, friends or lawyers,” he said. “I spent more than an hour in that situation, unable to speak to anyone and – even though I had asked – I was denied my right to speak to my lawyer several times.”
Werner, a businessman who also has his own bikini line, said he had traveled the world and had no problem being topless — but was surprised he was detained in the South American country.
Werner said police violated his due process rights after the arrest. CEN
“In many countries, it is common practice,” he said. “Women’s bodies are not objectified and hypersexualized.”
Werner received a summons for lewdness and was acquitted.
Article 233 of the Penal Code in Brazil describes the charge as “committing an obscene act in a public place, whether open or exposed to the public”, but the law does not define what an “obscene act” is, according to G1.
He could face anywhere from three months to a year in prison if found guilty.
The model could face up to a year in prison if found guilty. CEN
The Santa Catarina state prosecutor’s office is handling the case and has offered a plea deal but Werner, who has moved from Balneário Camboriú, said he did not attend the hearing. His lawyer said he had not been notified of the hearing and asked for a new date.
Werner said that the whole incident is being hyped online, where a video of him walking around shirtless is making the rounds.
“What happened to me, the abuse of power and judgment by society, shows how the interpretation of the law itself reflects the gender treatment determined by the patriarchal, violent culture, in relation to the control of women’s bodies,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
