The PGR (Attorney General’s Office) denounced, former minister of Human Rights of the government, to the (Federal Supreme Court) on charges of sexual harassment of the Minister of Racial Equality,.
The complaint was presented on March 4 and is signed by the attorney general, Paulo Gonet. The process takes place under secrecy at the STF and is led by the minister.
In the play, Gonet states that there is evidence that supports Anielle’s account. Among the testimonies that corroborate the minister’s statements is that of the director general of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues.
When contacted, the former minister’s defense stated that the case remains confidential and reaffirmed previous statements. Silvio has been arguing that the accusations.
Andrei participated in the May 2023 meeting at the headquarters of the Ministry of Racial Equality in which Almeida allegedly harassed Anielle. The director general was interviewed in the case and, according to the PGR, gave a report in line with that described by the minister.
According to the complaint, Andrei says he felt Anielle was very down after the meeting and made strong comments, such as “I couldn’t take it anymore.” At the time, she would not have mentioned Almeida’s name, but she left the meeting upset, reporting discomfort.
The general inspector of the PF, Aletea Vega Marona Kunde, was present at the meeting and, also interviewed during the inquiry, gave a similar report. There are also reports from friends with whom Anielle spoke at the time about the moment she was going through.
The incident occurred last November by the PF and was based on suspicion of sexual harassment against Anielle and teacher Isabel Rodrigues. The PGR’s complaint, however, only addresses Anielle’s case.
According to the understanding highlighted by the Prosecutor’s Office, the second case was sent to the first instance to follow the STF jurisprudence, since, at the time of the events related to the teacher, Silvio was not a minister.
According to information from people who had access to the document, the PF considered that there was a statute of limitations in relation to other suspected cases — when the State can no longer punish someone for committing a crime or execute a sentence for the time that has passed since the fact.
Added together, the sentences can result in ten years in prison.
The indictment was forwarded to the court after an investigation that uncovered accusations of . At the beginning of 2025, during the investigations, Silvio Almeida testified for more than two hours to the Federal Police.
Anielle said that her colleague’s “inappropriate approaches” escalated to physical harassment.
To Veja magazine, the minister said that there were “inconvenient attitudes” on Almeida’s 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.
In the case of the teacher, she published a video last September accusing the former minister of having touched her without consent during a lunch in the presence of other people, in 2019, before he became the government’s Minister of Human Rights ().
Silvio Almeida even said, in , that Anielle had “lost herself in her character” and fallen into a political trap.
The former minister denied making inappropriate comments to Anielle and touching her legs in a ministerial meeting, as is accused. He said that on that occasion there was a tense meeting and that differences arose between what the two proposed.
He also denied other alleged cases of harassment. “I’ve been teaching for 20 years. I’ve had approximately 40 thousand students. Half of them are women. In all the universities I’ve been to, this is officially stated, I’ve never had any type of accusation.”
“I didn’t do that. I don’t know why people lie. And those who lie have responsibility.”
At the time, the former minister 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.”
The case led President Lula to Silvio Almeida the day after the allegations were revealed, in September 2024. 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 case is also being investigated by the Presidency’s Public Ethics Commission, under secrecy. The body investigates the facts at the administrative level, as it involves a public agent.
