Danielle Jinkings       Reporter Agência Brasil  [contains translator’s note]

Brasília – A panel of judges (“Terceira Seção”) at Brazil’s Superior Appellate Court (“Superior Tribunal de Justiça – STJ”) recently ruled that a man was not guilty of rape after he had sex with three girls, all aged 12, because they were already prostitutes.

The Chief Justice of the court where the decision was made, the Superior Appellate Court (“Superior Tribunal de Justiça – STJ”), Ari Pargendler, admitted the decision could be reviewed and changed. “This is a complicated issue and was decided by a panel of judges at the court (“Terceira Seção”). It is the word of the court, but, evidently, every case is different and the court is always willing to review judgments. Maybe that will happen.”

However, the STJ chief justice pointed out that the ruling was based on a technicality (“questão técnica”) and that such decisions were not always understood by the population. “In penal law, the overriding principle is strict legality. Judges do not create law, they apply it. With that in mind, I hope people will understand the decision by the Terceira Seção, in this concrete case, and comprehend it,” declared Pargendler.

[The STJ has six panels (“turmas”) of five judges each that are divided into three sections (“seções”) with ten judges each. The Third Section (“terceira seção”) consists of the fifth and sixth turmas, but at this moment there is a vacancy in one of the turmas so that it was probably a panel of nine judges, instead of ten, who ruled in this case. The majority opinion in the case was written by the Chief Justice (“presidente”) of the sixth turma who is a woman, Maria Thereza de Assis Moura – she is called the “relator”]

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English - content modified

Link - Para secretária, decisão do STJ pode banalizar violência sexual contra crianças e adolescentes

Link - Presidente do STJ diz que decisão sobre estupro de vulnerável pode ser revista

Link - Ministro da Justiça diz que é contra decisão do STJ sobre estupro

Link - Para Maria do Rosário, decisão do STJ sobre estupro de vulneráveis “significa constituir um caminho de impunidade”

Link - Para ANPR, decisão do STJ sobre estupro de menores é uma afronta à Constituição