The Flamengo fan who kissed the face of an ESPN reporter while the professional was doing a live broadcast last Wednesday (7th) had his release permit issued by Justice this Thursday (8th), after a day in prison.
The Military Police (PM) of Rio de Janeiro had confirmed that Marcelo Benevides Silva was arrested in the act by police officers from the Specialized Police Battalion in Stadiums (BEPE) near Access D of Maracanã.
The Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro (TJ-RJ) informed, before the permit, that the arrest had been converted into preventive, after a custody hearing.
Judge Marcello Rubioli, who signed the release order, ruled that Silva is prohibited from: leaving the state of Rio de Janeiro without judicial authorization; have contact with victims and witnesses, except relatives, and go to sporting events in which Flamengo participates, while the process lasts.
“Provisional release does not mean support or approval of the act, but the recognition that other measures can be applied while the case is judged”, evaluates criminal lawyer Franklin Gomes.
At the time, Jéssica Dias covered the match between Flamengo and Vélez Sarsfield for the Copa Libertadores. The journalist was making a live entrance among the fans when the man kissed her on the cheek, without her consent.
Reporter Jéssica Dias was today the victim of sexual harassment outside Maracanã, where she worked covering Flamengo and Velez for the Copa Libertadores. Disney reprimands any type of violence, whether physical or verbal, and we are providing full support to the professional and (+) pic.twitter.com/ny7IcKHdj0
— ESPN Brasil (@ESPNBrasil) September 8, 2022
“I just wanted to work”, says reporter
Jessica used her Instagram account to speak out about what happened. “I suffered sexual harassment while working and that is a crime. I didn’t want a kiss, I didn’t want affection, I didn’t want to spend 3 hours in a police station. I just wanted to work,” she lamented.
The journalist said that before her entry, fans cursed for the delay of the live. Just before the broadcast began, “the ‘apologies’ came with smoothing on the shoulders and a kiss on the spot”.
The final act was the kiss on the cheek, caught on camera.
“The human being who did this was with an underage son who apologized for his father. The boy is not to blame, don’t punish his family. I appreciate all the support and love from my bosses, colleagues, fans, viewers and listeners at @espnbrasil and @lbvbrasil . Special thanks to @bandeira2000 and @andrelzdsouza, my team on the agenda”, he wrote.
It configures sexual harassment “to practice against someone and without their consent a lewd act to satisfy one’s own lasciviousness or that of a third party”. The crime was inserted into the Penal Code in 2018.
The practice differs from harassment, as the lawyer explains: “Sexual harassment and harassment are different crimes, despite being crimes against sexual freedom. While in harassment we have the practice of a libidinous act against the victim, in harassment what characterizes the crime is the constraint of the victim with the purpose of obtaining sexual advantage or favor, always exercised by his hierarchical superior, someone with a position of ascendancy”.
In Gomes’ assessment, the images are sufficient to prove that there was “an act with a sexual connotation without the consent of the reporter, who was working and clearly felt harassed and attacked”.
The penalty provided for the crime of sexual harassment is from 1 to 5 years in prison, but it is possible that, at the end of the investigations, the Public Prosecutor’s Office will offer an agreement that replaces imprisonment.
In a statement, the Disney Group, which owns ESPN, said that “it rebukes any type of violence, whether physical or verbal, and we are providing all the support to the professional and taking the necessary measures so that intolerant attitudes, such as this, do not go unpunished. . We remain at the disposal of the authorities for any type of clarification”.
THE CNN seeks contact with Marcelo Benevides Silva’s lawyers, but has not been successful until publication.
*With information from Carolina Figueiredo, from CNN
Source: CNN Brasil
