By Anna Kaiser, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – French producer of “City of God” and other well-known independent Brazilian films, Marc Beauchamps, was arrested by the Federal Police in the São Conrado neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday on international drug trafficking charges. Beauchamps is incarcerated in Ary Franco prison awaiting extradition to France.
A warrant for his arrest for transporting narcotics from Brazil to France was issued by the French government. Several others involved in the scheme are already in prison in Europe.
Brazil’s Attorney General, Mário José Gisi, fulfilled a request from The Court of Appeals of Paris to hand over a document to Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Rosa Weber, which accused Beauchamps of transporting, acquiring, exporting and possessing narcotics and called for a three-year prison sentence.
Beauchamps had already been accused of active corruption by Brazilian authorities. In 2011, he reportedly offered the Federal Police R$50,000 following his arrest after being identified as a fugitive wanted in France.
While the French producer was exonerated once the Federal Police found there actually were no warrants for his arrest neither in Brazil nor France, he was taken to the Civil Police of the state of Rio de Janeiro and charged with active corruption.
Beauchamps was released in early 2012 after his detention was deemed unlawful.
In addition to producing the Brazilian blockbuster, City of God, and then Olga and Little Book of Love, Beauchamps was also the founder of Lumière, a leading independent film distributor in Brazil.
Read more (in Portuguese).
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