The case involving the death of engineer Patrícia Amieiro in 2008 won a new chapter: the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) spoke in favor of the hearing of a key witness. The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) is a legal body with the responsibility of defending the law. He is responsible for representing the interests of society and the state, as well as acting in the fight against corruption.
The case is suspended in the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) until a police appeal is analyzed, which led to the postponement of the jury that was scheduled for this Tuesday (5). The possible reopening of the case gained strength after the emergence of the new witness, revealed by Radio BandNews FM. In a statement given to the Public Prosecution Service in 2020, the man claims to have witnessed the moment when the PMs fired at the vehicle and removed the engine engineer still alive.
With this, the Public Prosecution Service (MP) requested that the new witness be heard in the new trial. In April this year, the 8th Criminal Chamber of Rio accepted the request and unanimously determined that the Jury Court be rescheduled to include the witness’s statement. The rapporteur of the case, judge Elizabete Alves de Aguiar, said that the testimony is “unquestionably relevant and necessary for the search for the real truth of the facts.”
However, the decision of Minister Antonio Saldanha Palheiro, of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), determines that the jurors must consider only the evidence presented in the first trial, which excludes the new witness. The defense of the police also filed a habeas corpus, claiming that it is not possible to include a witness who did not participate in the previous phase of the process.
Prior to that, in February, Judge Alessandra da Rocha Lima Roidis had already denied the MP’s request to include the statement, based on the same argument. Even so, the Attorney General’s Office spoke in favor of the inclusion of the new witness in the trial.
While the STJ does not decide whether the new test can be used, the process remains suspended. The four accused police are still free, performing administrative functions in the Military Police.
Understand the case
Patricia was returning from a party, when she had the car shot by fire fired by military police in Barra da Tijuca, West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. The engineer’s body was never found. Four police officers were accused in the case, but only two were convicted in the first jury, held in 2019 for procedural fraud, involving an alleged change in the crime scene. None of the agents were convicted of murder.
