The Ceará Court accepted the complaint from the Public Ministry of Ceará, on Monday (9), against four suspects of participation in a hate campaign against pharmacist Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes, which inspired the creation of the law to combat domestic and family violence against women. Among those accused is the activist’s ex-husband, Marco Antônio Heredia Viveiros, already convicted of attempted murder.
According to the complaint filed by Nuinc (Criminal Investigation Center), the accused acted in an organized manner to attack the activist’s honor and discredit the law that bears her name, using a forged criminal examination report to support Heredia’s innocence.
Also accused are digital influencer Alexandre Gonçalves de Paiva; the producer of the documentary “A Pesquisa Paralela: o Caso Maria da Penha” Marcus Vinícius Mantovanelli; and the editor and presenter of the documentary, Henrique Barros Lesina Zingano.
According to the MPCE, the campaign used offensive and slanderous content, constituting crimes of systematic virtual intimidation and persecution. The content characterizes misogyny, and attacks the pharmacist Maria da Penha, the activist’s story and Law No. 11,340/2006 (Maria da Penha Law). For the MPCE, the risks went beyond social media, as Alexandre Paiva traveled to Maria da Penha’s former residence, in Fortaleza, where he recorded videos and published the content on the networks.
The complaint, which is being processed at the 9th Criminal Court of Fortaleza, points out that Alexandre Paiva practiced systematic intimidation and persecution, with aggravating factors such as vile motives and committed against a person over 60 years of age. Marco Heredia was charged with falsifying a public document; while Mantovanelli and Zingano respond for using a false document, using a doctored report in the documentary. Pefoce (Forensic Expertise of the State of Ceará) proved that the original forensic examination, from the time of the attempted murder against Maria da Penha, was edited to suggest Heredia’s innocence.
The MPCE pointed out that, in May 2023, Alexandre Paiva went to Maria da Penha’s former residence, the place where the crime committed by her ex-husband occurred, in the Papicu neighborhood, in Fortaleza. At the scene, Paiva and a lawyer sought information about the pharmacist’s whereabouts and details about the occupation of the property, as recorded in a video published on their social networks. He also repeatedly made derogatory posts, suggesting that Maria da Penha lies and that the narrative about the attempted murder and the woman’s defense are a fraud.
The investigation also revealed that the accused used WhatsApp groups to plan hate campaign strategies on social media and to produce the documentary. In one of the groups, Paiva stated via audio that he was going to Fortaleza to bother Maria da Penha. “I’ve already bought my ticket, guys. I’m going to bother you in Fortaleza and I’m going to go back to the house where the crime happened to bother Maria da Penha!”
The investigation, initiated in 2024 by Nuinc, resulted in the “Echo Chamber” operation, carried out in two phases. In December 2024, searches in Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro led to the suspension of Paiva’s profile and the prohibition of contact and proximity to Maria da Penha and her daughters. In July 2025, searches in Natal seized documents and electronics, including a pen drive with the doctored report, and suspended the broadcast of the documentary. Given the severity of the attacks, Maria da Penha was included in the Human Rights Defenders Protection Program by the Ceará MP’s Reception Center for Victims of Violence (Nuavv).
