Francisco Mairlon was imprisoned for 15 years
The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) of Brazil annulled the conviction of a man sentenced, 15 years ago, to 47 years in prison for triple homicide in an upscale area of Brasília. Francisco Mairlon was released this morning.
“I can’t believe it, the happiest day of my life is today. A lot of gratitude to all the people who didn’t give up on me, the NGO Innocence who still insisted. Family, friends, I don’t know what to say”, he said, in an interview with , upon leaving jail, surrounded by family and lawyers.
The STJ collective classified it this Tuesday. the man’s conviction as a “very serious miscarriage of justice”, now 37 years old. He was arrested at 22.
“It is unacceptable that, in the Democratic State of Law, an accused person is pronounced and condemned by a court of lay judges, solely based on elements of information from the extrajudicial phase, dissonant with the evidence produced in court and under the scrutiny of the adversary system”, reads the decision, cited by the newspaper Terra.
The STJ also considered that there was, throughout the process, a violation of the principles of presumption of innocence.
The case back a 2009when the lawyer and former minister of the Superior Electoral Court José Guilherme Villela, his wife and the domestic worker were stabbed inside the apartment, ending up dying.
The investigation was marked by contradictions and serious flaws, including unjust arrests and falsified documents. The first inspector in charge of the case ended up being arrested, convicted and expelled from the Civil Police.
In 2010, two suspects confessed to the murders: Leonardo Campos Alvesformer doorman of the building, and his nephew Paulo Cardoso Santana. Both initially said they entered the apartment to steal money and jewelry.
Authorities later charged the couple’s daughter, Adriana Villelaof involvement in crime.
She was convicted in the first instance, but the sentence was annulled, and the process ended with her acquittal.
Years later, one of the convicts told the non-governmental organization Innocence Project that Francisco was innocent and that his incrimination had been fabricated.
The NGO filed an appeal with the STJ and achieved acquittal and consequent release of Francisco in the early hours of this Wednesday, after 15 years.
