- Caroline Werner was arrested for being topless in public while walking her dogs in Balneário Camboriú, Brazil
- The businesswoman has questioned the fairness of Brazil's constitution, which allows men to bare their chests in public while women are not allowed to do so.
- Werner was fined for committing an obscene act and faces a prison sentence of three months to a year or a fine if found guilty
A Brazilian bikini model is questioning the fairness of her country's justice system after he was arrested for being topless in public.
Caroline Werner, 37, was handcuffed and taken to a local police station earlier this year when she was seen walking her dogs while exposing her breasts across a beach in the southern city of Balneário Camboriú.
The businesswoman, who owns her bikini brand, is now questioning whether the Brazilian Constitution applies equally to women and men, as men are allowed to walk in public bare-chested, while women are prohibited from doing so.
“Unfortunately, in my country, even though the constitution guarantees gender equality, this does not happen in practice,” Werner recently told Brazilian news channel G1. 'I cannot have the same freedom and I feel forced to do so by this system and its repressive interpretation of the law.
“What should be normal for both sexes ends up being denied to one of them in an arbitrary and repressive way.”
Caroline Werner told Brazilian news channel G1 that the country's constitution does not apply equally to men and women after she was arrested and given a summons for being topless in public while walking her dogs near a beach in May in the southern town of Balneario Camboriu.
Werner, owner of her own bikini brand, claims police violated her due process rights by denying her access to a phone to call her family or lawyer
Caroline Werner took off her shirt and tied it around her waist while on a beach in Brazil before going for a walk with her dogs when she was stopped by Balneario Camboriu civilian police
Werner admitted to having been in public with her breasts exposed in other countries and is completely baffled that this has gotten her into trouble in the South American country.
She was on a beach and took off her shirt and tied it around her waist before walking her dogs.
“As I crossed the street to leave the dogs, I was approached by the Municipal Guard in a completely random and disproportionate manner,” Werner said. “They already arrived, put my hands behind me and handcuffed me.”
Police provided Werner with a blouse to cover her breasts, took her to a police station and left her handcuffed to the 'dark' metal bars of the prison cell.
Werner alleged that police violated her due process rights by not allowing her to call her family or a lawyer.
“I spent over an hour in that situation with no one to speak to and even though I requested it, I was denied the right to speak to my lawyer several times,” she said.
Werner faces a prison sentence of three months to a year or a fine if found guilty
She could be sentenced to a prison term of three months to a year or a fine if found guilty
Werner was given a summons for committing an obscene act and was released after an hour.
Article 233 of the Criminal Code describes the charge as “performing an obscene act in a public place, whether public or accessible to the public.”
However, the law does not define 'obscene act'.
She could be sentenced to a prison term of three months to a year or a fine if found guilty.
The case is being handled by the Santa Cantarina Public Prosecutor's Office, which has offered her a plea bargain.
Werner said the incident was exaggerated, especially on social media, where videos of her topless surfaced.
“What happened to me, the abuse of authority and judgment by society, shows how the interpretation of the law itself reflects the gender behavior dictated by the patriarchal, violent culture, regarding the control of female bodies,” she said .