The plenary of the (National Council of Justice) unanimously determined the initiation this Tuesday (14) of an administrative disciplinary proceeding against judge Luis César de Paula Espíndola, of the TJ-PR (Court of Justice of Paraná).
During a session he presided over on July 3 last year, Espíndola stated that . The judge’s speech took place during the trial of a case of harassment by a teacher against a 12-year-old girl.
Espíndola has been away since July last year, by decision of the CNJ. It will remain that way until the end of the process. The report attempts to contact the magistrate’s defense this Tuesday — at the time, he said he had no intention of “disparaging female behavior.”
The case reached the CNJ following a disciplinary complaint proposed by the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association) in Paraná. In an oral argument this Tuesday, the entity’s president, Luiz Fernando Casagrande Pereira, gave a report on Espíndola’s behavior and speeches since the 1990s, stating that the 2024 episode “is not an isolated case”.
“It’s scary. There are several misogynistic and disgusting manifestations. It’s expensive to have the judge at home, paid, but it’s really expensive to have him judge in the TJ of Paraná”, said the president of the OAB of Paraná.
Espíndola continued to receive salaries and trinkets during his absence. In September, its net income was R$61,480.72, according to the CNJ website.
In his vote, the CNJ inspector, Mauro Campbell Marques, classified the case as “very serious” and said that Espíndola has a “disregard for the fight against gender inequality and violence against women and girls”.
For Marques, Espíndola has “a pattern of behavior incompatible with a public servant”, of repeated harassment and “aggressive and discriminatory stance against women”.
Espíndola is president of the 12th Civil Chamber of the TJ and was in the chair conducting a trial session when he stated that “women are crazy after men”.
“If your Excellency goes out on the street, nowadays, those who are harassing, those who are chasing after men are women, because there are no men. This market is very different. Nowadays, what exists – this is the reality –, women are going crazy after men, because there are very few of them”, he stated at the time.
The Paraná collegiate judged the maintenance of a protective measure in favor of a 12-year-old teenager who reported harassment by a physical education teacher, who was acquitted in the criminal and administrative spheres. The case is being processed in secrecy.
In that same session, the judge also said: “It’s just going out at night. I don’t go out much at night, but I know, I have employees, I have contact with the world. Wow, the women are crazy after the man. Too crazy to receive a compliment, a wink, a polite flirtation, because they are the ones singing, they are the ones harassing, because there are no men. This is our reality nowadays, not just here in Brazil.”
The judge continued, saying that the situation was obvious, because “only the puppies are being the women’s companions” and that they are “crazy to find a partner, to talk, eventually to date”.
“Things have gotten to the point, nowadays, that women are the ones doing the harassing. I don’t know if your Excellency knows, college professors are harassed. Is it or isn’t it, doctor? When I leave college, I leave a lot of widows,” said Espíndola.
During the trial, Espíndola spoke out against maintaining protective measures in the girl’s case, stating that nowadays anything is considered harassment and that it would harm the teacher’s career.
The speech was questioned by judge Ivanise Maria Tratz Martins, and the judge reacted, calling his colleague’s statement an “outdated speech”.
After the statements, Espíndola apologized for the “mundane conversation unrelated to the process” at trial and called the teacher accused by the girl unhappy.
“The man is not a monster, a harasser. He was unfortunate, perhaps, in his own way, but no crime was found, neither administrative nor anything. And I think that even the principle of full child protection must have proof that it was violated, because otherwise any child makes a complaint against a teacher”, he stated.
