Group states that the verdict is ‘a serious affront to the feelings of the entire society’; Magistrate Tiago Fernandes de Barros pointed out that there is not enough evidence to support the conviction
The Association of Relatives of Victims of the Ninho do Urubu Fire (Afavinu) released this Wednesday (22), a letter repudiating the decision of the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJ-RJ) that acquitted in the first instance all the defendants in the criminal case involving the tragedy that took the lives of 10 players from the youth teams in 2019. The group states that it is “a serious affront to the memory of the victims and the feeling of the whole society.”
“Let us remember that the young people who died – teenagers in training, base athletes – slept in improvised containers, without adequate permits, with signs of electrical failure, window bars that made it difficult to leave, among other unsafe conditions. The acquittal of the accused, on the grounds that it was not possible to individualize technical conduct or prove a criminally relevant causal link, renews in us the feeling of impunity and weakens the mechanism for protecting the lives and safety of minors in sporting, training or assistance entities in the country”, says an excerpt from the letter.
Afavinu states that it will continue to seek justice and hopes that the decision will be reviewed by the appeal bodies. The group also says that it will continue to demand from supervisory bodies and public authorities in general to implement measures to make frequent audits and preventive maintenance mandatory in athletes’ accommodation in all clubs in the country. “The memory of young people will not be silenced: their names, their lives interrupted in avoidable circumstances, demand that we continue to be vigilant. The judicial decision, in not recognizing accountability criminal law, represents a serious failure of the justice system in its pedagogical role – and as such, reinforces in us the duty of civil mobilization to strengthen mechanisms of supervision, transparency and responsibility in spaces for training young people”, says another excerpt from the letter.
“The lives of our children have an irreparable value and in memory of the 10 innocent boys we will fight, until the end, for an effective Justice capable of inhibiting new crimes with sentences that protect the victims and not the perpetrators (…) May the love for sport, which moves millions of hearts, also be a love for safety, ethics and the memory of those ten boys who dreamed of wearing, with pride, the red and black shirt or other sacred robes. True sportsmanship requires empathy, responsibility and humanity. Honoring these values means protecting future generations of athletes and ensuring that football continues to be a reason for joy – never for mourning”, he concludes.
Defendants acquitted in RJ Court
The sentence that acquitted all the defendants in the criminal case of the Ninho do Urubu tragedy was published this Tuesday in the 36th Criminal Court of the District of the Capital, signed by judge Tiago Fernandes de Barros. The judge pointed out that there was no demonstration of criminal guilt and said it was not possible to establish cause and effect between the individual conduct of the defendants and the incident. He also points out that there is not enough evidence to support the conviction and that none of the accused had direct responsibility for the maintenance or electrical safety of the modules that housed the boys.
In total, 11 people were charged by the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro (MP-RJ) for the case. Two of them (former base director Carlos Noval and engineer Luiz Felipe Pondé) had their complaints dismissed by the Rio de Janeiro court in 2021. In the same decision, monitor Marcus Vinícius Medeiros was acquitted of the accusation.
Eduardo Bandeira de Mello, former president of Flamengo, was no longer on the list of defendants since February this year. The MP-RJ requested the removal of the former leader’s name from the process on the grounds that the case was time-barred. The reason is the fact that he is over 70 years old (72) and, therefore, could no longer be punished.
Club responds to lawsuit filed by former security guard
In July, Flamengo was sentenced in the first instance by the Rio de Janeiro Labor Court to compensate Benedito Ferreira, the club’s former security guard who worked in rescuing the victims. According to the decision, the club was sentenced to pay R$100,000 for moral damages and R$500,000 for material damages, totaling R$600,000. The judge also ordered the payment of a pension for life, limited until Benedito was 78 years old. The employee decided to take the case to court after developing a serious and disabling psychiatric illness.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
Published by Fernando Dias
