Governor of Pernambuco classifies case as “inadmissible”; Duda Salabert and Erika Hilton say that the Civil Police commits institutional transphobia
The governor (PSD-PE) stated that she had ordered an investigation into the inclusion of photographs of federal deputies (PDT-MG) and (Psol-SP) in the Pernambuco Civil Police’s suspect recognition album. The material was prepared to investigate a cell phone theft in Recife. The Internal Affairs Department of the Social Defense Secretariat will conduct the investigation of the case.
Lyra repudiated the case on social media. “Prejudice and symbolic violence are not tolerated in PE”he stated. The governor classified the incident as “inadmissible” and reported that it determined “rigorous investigation” in the Internal Affairs Department of the Social Defense Secretariat – a portfolio that covers the Civil, Military and Scientific police, in addition to the Fire Department and Civil Defense.
The episode was reported by Salabert this Wednesday (25th March 2026), after receiving a letter from . The document warned about the presence of images of congresswomen in police proceedings.
A Civil Police station used the photographs of the two deputies in material intended to identify suspects. The album was produced in April 2025 to investigate the robbery that occurred earlier that year.
PROFILING AND TRANSPHOBIA
Deputy Duda Salabert classified the episode as profiling, racism and institutional transphobia. “They placed my photo and that of Erika Hilton side by side in a criminal recognition album. Not because of similarity to the suspect, but because we are transvestites. This is not an investigation. It is profiling, it is institutional racism and transphobia. This is how the system makes mistakes. This is how innocent people are placed as suspects”he declared.
Salabert went to court and requested clarification from the Pernambuco Social Defense Secretariat. In the letter sent to the body, the deputy argued that the episode cannot be seen as an isolated error or mere procedural failure.
Erika said that Raquel Lyra apologized for the case. “She also committed to properly investigating the facts and those responsible for this symbolic and transphobic aggression committed against me and Congresswoman Duda Salabert. I thank the governor for the call and the commitment made”, wrote Erika on her X account.
The Pernambuco Public Defender’s Office assessed that the only possible explanation for the inclusion of the photographs would be the fact that both congresswomen are trans women. The institution stated that this circumstance compromises the legal validity of any recognition carried out during an investigation, since photographic recognition carried out under these conditions presents obvious fragility and could not, by itself, support a possible conviction.
There is no information about how many photographs made up the recognition album nor about the identities of other people included in the material. Details about the progress of the investigation into the cell phone theft that led to the creation of the album were also not disclosed.
