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Justin Bieber faces fine over Brazil wall-tagging

By AFP

31 March 2017   |   1:01 am

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Rio de Janeiro prosecutors are seeking a 20,000-reais ($6,400) fine for pop star Justin Bieber, currently on tour in Brazil, for unauthorized wall-tagging of a historic hotel in 2013.

Canadian singer Justin Bieber PHOTO: AFP/ Miguel Medina

Rio de Janeiro prosecutors are seeking a 20,000-reais ($6,400) fine for pop star Justin Bieber, currently on tour in Brazil, for unauthorized wall-tagging of a historic hotel in 2013.

Judge Rudi Baldi Loewenkron reopened the case on March 21 at the request of the Rio public prosecutor’s office, which wanted the Canadian singer to be informed of his crimes when he returned to Rio early Wednesday.

The prosecutors proposed that Bieber pay the fine by making a donation of goods or food to the National Cancer Institute.

Bieber’s lawyers now have three days to indicate whether he accepts the proposal.

The star, who gave a crowded concert at the Rio Sambodrome late Wednesday and has two more performances set for this weekend in Sao Paulo, has yet to discuss the case on social media.

“Because this is a crime with less potential to re-offend, we are not requesting that his passport be held,” prosecutors said.

During his 2013 stay in Rio, Bieber — then 19 — tagged the wall of Nacional Hotel after refusing for security reasons to spray graffiti in an area where he had received permission from the mayor.

During that visit, Bieber was also photographed emerging under a blanket from a notorious Rio brothel and later vainly tried to bring prostitutes into the posh Copacabana Palace.

Furious at being thwarted, the then teen sensation reportedly went on a rampage in his suite, breaking various objects valued at nearly $6,000 in total.

Bieber and his entourage were subsequently kicked out of the hotel.