Fire occurred on January 27, 2013Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil
Published 02/05/2024 15:01
The Deputy Attorney General of the Republic Cláudia Sampaio Marques defended this Thursday, 2nd, to the Federal Supreme Court the reinstatement of the convictions of the four accused of the Kiss nightclub fire, which resulted in the death of 242 people in 2013. The argument is that the annulment of the trial of the accused – a decision taken by the State Court of Justice and confirmed by the Superior Court of Justice – “exceeded the limits of reasonableness”.
In Cláudia’s assessment, the annulment of the jury session that imposed sentences of up to 22 years in prison on the defendants violated the principles of due process, full defense and adversarial proceedings, in addition to the principles of full defense and jury sovereignty.
“It is imperative to recognize that the annulment of the trial of crimes that occurred more than a decade ago, which resulted in the tragic death of more than 240 people, after arduous work carried out by the Jury Court over ten days with strict observance of all constitutional precepts, notably those that enshrine due legal process, undeniably represented the unreasonable and cruel renewal of the pain inflicted on those who survived the tragedy and on the families of the hundreds of fatal victims”, he highlighted.
The case reached the Supreme Court through an appeal filed by the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul after the Superior Court of Justice confirmed the annulment of the trial of the four defendants for the tragedy that occurred in 2013. The Court accepted the argument of the defendants’ defenses regarding alleged nullities in the trial of defendants
The jury of the accused took place in December 2021 in Porto Alegre, leading to the conviction of former club members Elissandro Callegaro Spohr (22 years and six months in prison) and Mauro Londero Hoffmann (19 years and six months), the band’s lead singer Gurizada Fandangueira, Marcelo de Jesus do Santos (18 years old) and the producer of the musical group Luciano Augusto Bonilha Leão (18 years old).
In February, Minister Dias Toffoli, rapporteur of the case at the STF, suspended a new jury of the defendants for the fire at Kiss Nightclub, which was scheduled after the Superior Court of Justice confirmed the annulment of the trial of the four defendants for the tragedy that occurred in 2013.
