Six years later, the Rio Court acquitted all seven accused of the crimes of arson and serious injury for the fire that killed ten Flamengo academy players during a fire at Ninho do Urubu. Judge Tiago Fernandes de Barros, from the 36th Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro, understood that the Public Ministry’s complaint was generic and that the reports created were made with unproven technical hypotheses,
The acquitted defendants were: Antônio Márcio Mongelli Garotti, Marcelo Maia de Sá, Edson Colman da Silva, Cláudia Pereira Rodrigues, Danilo da Silva Duarte, Fábio Hilário da Silva and Weslley Gimenes. According to the Court of Justice, Eduardo Carvalho Bandeira de Mello, former president of Flamengo and now federal deputy, had his punishment terminated due to prescription. Other defendants had already been excluded from the process in previous stages.
In February 2019, 26 athletes slept in the containers used as accommodation for the club’s youth teams. The fire started in an air conditioning unit. The ten teenagers killed were between 14 and 16 years old. Three others were injured.
The following died in the tragedy: Athila Paixão, aged 14; Arthur Vinícius de Barros Silva Freitas, 14 years old; Bernardo Pisetta, 14 years old; Christian Esmério, 15 years old; Gedson Santos, 14 years old; Jorge Eduardo Santos, 15 years old; Pablo Henrique da Silva Matos, 14 years old; Rykelmo de Souza Vianna, 16 years old; Samuel Thomas Rosa, 15 years old and Vitor Isaías, 15 years old.
Presenter Paula Valdez spoke today (22), on Tarde Bandnews, with Alba Valéria, mother of Jorge Eduardo Santos and with Paula Wolf, the family’s lawyer. The young man’s mother said she received the decision with indignation:
“It was disgusting to see this sentence. Because we expected justice, right? We entrusted our children to that place. We took them there alive and received them in the coffin. Those who are imprisoned today are our children, in an eternal prison. They will never return.”
The space did not have a permit from the city hall and had already been fined more than thirty times by the municipality. The family’s lawyer explained that the Rio Public Prosecutor’s Office will appeal the decision
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office has already stated that it will appeal this decision and we believe that the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro will make justice happen, because there are several elements, there were several investigations, several expert reports, several lines of what happened that night in the previous days that lead us to believe that the guilty parties must be convicted.
The judge also stated that none of the accused had direct responsibilities regarding maintenance or electrical safety and we strongly disagree with that”, concludes Dr. Paula Wolf.
Even with the TJ’s decision, Jorge Eduardo’s mother says she believes in Justice:
“I still believe in Justice. There is nothing else for us to believe in. Is there greater proof than the death of 10 dreams? We work from Monday to Monday, so as not to have an empty mind and still keep fighting, keep being strong because otherwise we will collapse. And that’s why we still have faith to believe that justice can still be done”, concludes Alba in a painful story.
