STF forms majority to keep Monique Medeiros in prison

The second panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) formed a majority to deny an appeal from the defense of Monique Medeiros, arrested for the death of the boy Henry Borel, who was 4 years old at the time of the crime, on March 8, 2021.

The appeal presented by Monique's defense requested the replacement of preventive detention for home detention.

In the trial, the rapporteur, minister Gilmar Mendes, the same one who decided monocratically for Monique's arrest last year, voted in favor and asked for speed in the trial of the criminal action at the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ), where the defendant will go through a popular jury.

The vote was accompanied by ministers Edson Fachin and Nunes Marques, who did not make any new statements about the case.

Monique Medeiros and her partner on the date of the crime, former councilor and doctor Jairo Souza Santos Junior, known as Dr. Jairinho, are in preventive custody and are awaiting the popular jury.

The judgment of the request takes place in a virtual plenary session of the Supreme Court. It started on April 26th and is scheduled to end this Monday (6th).

In a statement, the TJRJ stated that it does not comment on decisions from higher courts and said that Monique's trial has not yet been scheduled.

Arrest history

In November 2022, judge Elizabeth Machado Louro, from the 2nd Jury Court, determined that Monique and Jairinho will go to the popular jury. Both remain detained in units in the Gericinó Complex, in Bangu, in the West Zone of Rio.

Monique was released in August 2022, but in July 2023 the STF ordered her to return to prison.

Previously, she was held at the Santo Expedito Penal Institute, also in Bangu, where she was allegedly being threatened by other inmates.

Due to the threats, the defense asked for house arrest until the trial.

Remember the case

The boy Henry Borel, aged 4, died in March 2021. The autopsy report from the Medical-Legal Institute indicated that the child suffered 23 injuries to his body and the cause of death was “internal bleeding and liver laceration”.

He had hemorrhagic injuries to his head, injuries to his nose, bruises on his wrist and abdomen, bruises on his kidney and lungs, as well as internal bleeding and a ruptured liver.

Monique is accused of triple homicide, torture, procedural fraud and coercion during the process. She was also charged with the crime of ideological falsehood.

According to the MPRJ, she made a false statement at the hospital where they took the child, who arrived there already dead. “When seeking care for his son, he aimed to mask the attacks suffered by him, avoiding criminal liability for his partner”, recorded the complaint.