Danilo Coppola, arrested a week ago in Abu Dhabi on an international arrest warrant for a final conviction for bankruptcy, "has been released and has returned free".

His lawyer, Gaetano De Perna, explained this, clarifying that the authorities of the United Arab Emirates have established that " pre-trial detention is not necessary" for him pending any extradition proceedings. "Everyone knew he was there - claims the lawyer - his children and friends went to visit him, he didn't run away and he won't run away". Now, he clarified, we will have to see when the Ministry of Justice's extradition request will arrive and "when the hearing will be scheduled to decide whether to extradite him or not". The release of the Roman real estate developer, as explained by the defender, took place on Saturday.

Coppola, 56 years old, former protagonist of the "smart neighborhood" season , was arrested by agents of the Service for International Police Cooperation and Interpol in Abu Dhabi where he was apparently on a "tourist trip" and precisely in a shopping center, while he had been living in Dubai for some time. He had been blocked on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by the Milan prosecutor Adriana Blasco of the Execution Office led by Deputy Eugenio Fusco.

A provision resulting from the final 7-year sentence dated July 1, 2022 for three different episodes of fraudulent bankruptcy: the bankruptcies of Gruppo Immobiliare 2004, Mib Prima spa and Porta Vittoria spa, the latter declared on September 15, 2016, the same year where he was arrested. The final sentence was 7 years, then reduced to 6 years, 2 months and 12 days considering the period already spent in prison and house arrest in the precautionary phase. To which were then added, according to the arrest warrant executed, three months for a conviction for defamation in Bergamo . While there are two other trials underway for him in Milan: one for new hypotheses of bankruptcy and another for attempted extortion in the Prelios case.

“They continue to persecute him with trials based on nothing, only on hypotheses,” added lawyer De Perna. For months now Coppola had been posting videos on his social channels, continuing to proclaim himself innocent and the victim of judicial errors and attacking the Milanese and Roman prosecutors who had dealt with him over the years.

(Unioneonline/D)

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