March 9, 2022

07:03

Iury Lima – Cenarium Magazine

VILHENA (RO) – The high rate of violence was released this Tuesday, 8th, Women’s International Day, by the Civil Police of Rondônia (PC-RO). The data is part of the partial balance of actions taken in ‘Operation Resguardo’, which began on February 7. Since then, 1,143 women victims of physical or moral violence have been attended to by the police in the state, resulting in the arrest of 143 aggressors. 

Also according to the police, 340 protective measures have been enforced. The operation is coordinated by the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety, through the Integrated Operations Secretariat, with the objective of investigating complaints, establishing police inquiries and executing arrest warrants aimed at protecting women. 

The numbers correspond only to the month of February. 

At least 100 PC-RO agents have been employed, so far, in the operation’s actions in all the municipalities of Rondonia. However, the folder did not reveal in which cities the warrants were served.

Femicides

The year 2022 started extremely violent for the women inhabitants of the third largest Federative Unit of the Brazilian North. In just two months, 14 women from Rondonia were violently murdered, according to the state government’s Secretariat for Security, Defense and Citizenship (Sesdec); five of these cases were treated and investigated as crimes of feminicide.

Among the victims is Antonieli Nunes Martins, killed at the age of 32 by asphyxiation and a stab wound to the neck by the man whom she would had a son with. Gabriel Henrique Masioli, 28, now in jail while awaiting trial, did not want his wife to reveal the pregnancy resulting from the extramarital relationship that the two had had for approximately 10 months.

The crime shocked residents of the small town of Pimenta Bueno, 522 kilometers from the capital of Rondônia, in early February, which generated protests with a request for justice and gained national repercussions.

Another case, which occurred a month earlier, was the murder of Ângela Maria Duarte, 51 years old. She was found naked and lifeless inside a closet in a neighbor’s house in the municipality of Ji-Paraná, 372 kilometers from Porto Velho. She had been missing for more than 24 hours.

Angela’s body had injuries that indicated signs of asphyxiation. The neighbor, suspected of killing the woman, had been hired by her to assemble furniture. He fled to the state of Mato Grosso and was found, days later, on a farm, eventually arrested by the police.

The most recent, and equally revolting, was the feminicide of Vitória Beatriz de Souza Franco, 23 years old. She was murdered by her husband with more than 20 stab wounds while she was lying down, and was found by the police with the knife used in the crime stuck in her neck. The barbaric case occurred on February 27 in Ariquemes, a little more than 200 kilometers from the capital. 

It was the killer himself who called the police and warned them about the crime. He was indicted for aggravated feminicide, for having been committed with frivolous motives and with no chance of defense for the victim, with the use of extreme violence.

In 2022, the Feminicide Law (Law No. 13.104/2015) will complete seven years in force. The law provides a qualifying modality for the crime of homicide, making feminicide an integral part of the group of heinous crimes. 

Thus, it is considered the murder of women involving domestic or family violence, contempt or discrimination due to gender condition. Currently, the penalty can vary from 12 to 30 years in prison.