Hello! This blogpost is personal and not technology-related at all, but I would appreciate it if you would read it anyway, in this case. Generally, I don’t like sending off-topic posts to the Planets, but this is an extreme situation and I feel it is important that you know what has happened.

First of all, who is Daniel Nicoletti? He is a KDE and Freedesktop developer, the author of many great things like Apper, the PackageKit-based KDE package manager, a new KDE Print Manager, colord-kde and the Aptcc backend PackageKit uses on Debian-based systems. Also, he is a friend of mine and we work on many projects together.

Recently, he was traveling to the Linux Color Management Hackfest 2012, but he never reached Brno, instead he was arrested by Interpol at the airport in Munich.

The reason is a tragic accident about a year ago. If you are a KDE developer/user, you might know the story already. Daniel and his family wanted to move to Argentina. On the way, a car suddenly stopped on the road. To avoid a collision, Daniel tried to dodge the car, which then collided with a truck. His daughter died later in cause of the accident. The KDE release 4.6.3 was dedicated in memory of her.

After these events, the family decided to move back to Brazil for various reasons. Meanwhile – and without Daniel knowing anything about it – Argentina filed an Interpol request to get him, accusing him for murdering his daughter. (As – of course – he was no longer in Argentina)

At time, he is arrested in Munich, and Argentina asks for his extradition, but Germany does not totally agree with his guilt.

Thanks to our really awesome community (really, I can’t express how impressed and proud I am) he received some help quickly, after his wife posted a desperate request for help via his Google+ account. – At first, she didn’t even know what exactly had happened, because no communication was allowed to Daniel (and still is not), and we all assumed an accident.

Now he has a lawyer who is communicating with his wife. In the worst case, Daniel will be struck for at least another 6 months, unless his wife can come over and intercede for him.

This surreal story really came out of nowhere. The day before he left for the hackfest, I was reviewing a patch with him and everything was fine, and he was excited to go to the CM Hackfest.

At time, his family is collecting money so his wife is able to go to Munich and clear the situation, because due to these incidents, there is not much money left. So, if you want you can donate for him.



I really appreciate any help to get Daniel back and clear this injustice, and I wish him and his family the all the best! And I hope that this nightmare will end quickly.

Thank you for reading through this…

UPDATE: Daniel’s wife will soon travel to Germany with an one-way ticket. She will meet a member of the community at the airport who can show her around and help in communicating with the locals. (And offer her a place to stay) At time, they seek a lawyer who is specialized in this international affairs. (Brazilian citizen, accused in Argentina, currently sitting in Germany…)

Because some people asked this, you can find the whole story about the accident on Daniel’s Blog. Also, a local newspaper reported about it. (But my Portuguese or Spanish is as good as the Google Translator allows it) Also, as far as I know communication between the Brazilian side and Germany is going on.

Currently, nobody can speak to Daniel. I’ll keep you updated.

Also, for Brazilians: You can also donate here, if Pledgie does not work for you. (requested some times) – I just hope they will get the money even if goals are not reached, I don’t know the rules these platforms apply.

Hello! This blogpost is personal and not technology-related at all, but I would appreciate it if you would read it anyway, in this case. Generally, I don’t like sending off-topic...