A indicted the government’s former Minister of Human Rights (PT) after an investigation that found accusations of . The indictment was forwarded to the (Supreme Federal Court) and points to the practice of sexual harassment.
The information was initially reported by TV Globo and confirmed by Sheet.
The allegations against the minister were forwarded to the Me Too Organization and revealed by the Metrópoles portal in September last year. Among the accusations would be one made by the Minister of Racial Equality, .
The case is being processed under secrecy in court and is being reported by the minister. At the beginning of the year, during the investigations, Silvio Almeida testified for more than two hours to the Federal Police.
Silvio Almeida’s stance since the information was revealed was to repudiate the accusations and deny that he had committed the alleged crimes. The former minister, in turn, went so far as to say, in February of this year, that Anielle had “lost her character” and fallen into a political trap.
“I think she [Anielle] fell into a trap, the lack of understanding of how politics works — the trap I fell into too,” he said.
“I didn’t pay attention to things I should have paid more attention to. She, in the same way. She lost herself in a character. To try to wear me down, she participated in this spread of gossip and intrigue about me.”
At the time, the former minister also stated that he would resume his public activities. “I’m alive, I’m still outraged and I don’t want compassion or ‘second chances’. I want justice.”
In a statement, ae said that he used public space to disqualify complaints and intimidate victims of harassment.
“The attempt to discredit victims of sexual harassment, minimize their pain and transform serious reports into ‘gossip’ and ‘political fights’ is unacceptable. On the eve of giving a statement to the person being investigated, the accused chose to use a public space to attack and disqualify the complaints, adopting a stance that perpetuates the cycle of violence and intimidates other victims”, says Anielle’s note.
said that Silvio Almeida’s “inappropriate approaches” escalated to physical harassment.
The minister also told Veja magazine that there were “inconvenient attitudes” on his part, such as inappropriate touches and impertinent invitations, but that she did not report the episodes for “fear of discredit and judgment”, in addition to the feeling that the victim was to blame, not the aggressor.
“It is important to make it clear that what happened was a crime of sexual harassment. I was a victim of sexual harassment. We need to reinforce this to prevent women from continuing to be victims of this type of aggression,” he said.
There is also an investigation being carried out against Silvio Almeida at the Public Ethics Commission (CEP) of the Presidency. It investigates the facts at the administrative level, as it involves a public agent. The investigation was made official at the CEP’s 27th Extraordinary Meeting on September 6, 2024, one day after the allegations became public.
The case took President Lula to Silvio Almeida the day after the allegations were revealed. Before the decision, the PT member met separately with Almeida and, after publishing the resignation, with Anielle Franco. Since then, the Human Rights department has been headed by Macaé Evaristo.
In the official resignation statement, the government stated that the president considered it “unsustainable” for the minister to remain in office considering the nature of the sexual harassment accusations.
The episode generated political clashes within the Racial Equality department, as well as between the head of the ministry and her former government colleague. A month after the case was revealed, the minister fired (National System for the Promotion of Racial Equality), which was linked to Silvio Almeida.
