The Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro (MPRJ) filed a complaint against comedian Marcius Melhem for the crime of sexual harassment, practiced continuously against three victims. The criminal action was filed on Friday (5) and received by the 20th Criminal Court on Tuesday (8).
According to a note from the MP sent to CNN, the investigation into the crime of sexual harassment committed against one of the victims was shelved due to the punitive prescription of the facts. As well as investigations into five other victims of sexual harassment, which were also archived due to the statute of limitations.
The limit for the MP to send a complaint to the Justice is four years, so Melhem must answer only for the accusations of harassment that would have been committed at the end of 2019.
The case runs in secrecy of Justice by request of the MP.
In a note, Melhem’s defense called the accusation “absurd” and said that the responsible prosecutor had no contact with the investigations.
“The illegal choice of a prosecutor who had no contact with the investigations, in clear violation of the principle of the natural prosecutor, a very serious fact already brought to the attention of the Federal Supreme Court, resulted, as expected, in a confusing complaint and entirely foreign to the facts and evidence. Totally ignoring the elements of information from the Police Inquiry, the complaint accuses Marcius Melhem of the crime of sexual harassment against three of the eight alleged victims”, says the note signed by the lawyers representing Melhem.
The note also adds that the comedian’s defense intends to challenge the accusation in a timely manner, and that Melhem “remains confident in Justice, hoping that the Magistrate does not continue the process, as allowed by law”.
The defense of the victims who accuse Marcius Melhem also manifested itself through a note sent to the CNN, in which the lawyers state that the accusation made by the Public Prosecutor’s Office “demonstrates that the investigation confirmed the facts courageously denounced by the victims”.
“The completion of the complaint shows that the intimidation campaign raised by the harasser against the actresses and professionals involved in the investigations had no effect, with the criminal prosecution bodies having fulfilled their role”, says the note signed by the victims’ lawyers.
The victims’ defense adds that it has not yet had access to the content of the complaint, but that it trusts the Judiciary “so that a fair and exemplary response to the reported episodes comes quickly, at the height of what an emblematic and serious case like this requires”.
remember the case
At the end of 2020, piauí magazine released an extensive report denouncing alleged episodes of sexual harassment committed by Marcius Melhem when he was still director of Humor at TV Globo.
The comedian has always denied the allegations.
Shortly after, Marcius Melhem left the station. In a statement, Globo said that the end of the partnership happened by common agreement after 17 years of success, but made no mention of the harassment that would have been practiced by the then director.
Source: CNN Brasil
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