July 31, 2023

11:07

Marcela Leiros – Amazon Agency

MANAUS – The Public Ministry of the State of Amazonas (MP-AM) went back and decided to denounce real estate broker Rogério Lindoso dos Passos, 31, suspected of raping a 4-year-old child in a department store fitting room in the North Zone of Manaus. The reason, according to the ministerial body, is that there is sufficient evidence of the crime.

In the decision, prosecutor Fabrício Almeida, who is in charge of the case, says there is “sufficient evidence of authorship and materiality proven by the victim’s account, witnesses, the forensic examination and the images extracted from the store’s security cameras”.

In April, the MP-AM ordered the filing of the police investigation into the case for breaking the chain of custody, since the images from the store’s camera circuit were collected by the victim’s mother, and it was not possible to recognize the suspect in the video.

“[The images were] improperly used to publicize the suspect’s image, aiming at his quick identification and without the State’s confidential investigative activity”, the MP said in a statement at the time. The information is from Rede Amazônica.

What the defense says

In a note published through the social network Instagram, Lindoso’s lawyer, Alexandre Torres Jr., states that the defense’s position has not changed, following with a “robust evidentiary material resulting from a defensive criminal investigation that proves Rogério’s innocence”. (See the note at the end of the ceiling)

The defense also claims that the suspect suffered abuse from authorities during the investigation, which was reported to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Amazonas in the form of a criminal notice. “Among the practices, we list, including, the attempt by the Civil Police to intimidate our technical expert hired by the technical defense and the defamation and lawfare techniques used politically to try to embarrass the defense of the accused who, yes, is innocent until there is at least one judicial process in his disfavor”, he says.

Understand the case

The case happened on March 2, but only gained notoriety on March 10, after the release of security camera images, which show the entrance to the fitting room, and the moment when the victim goes to the same place where Rogério was. The suspect was identified through the images by the Specialized Police Station for Crimes Against Children and Adolescents (Depca) on the 13th, when the arrest warrant was granted.

According to the time of the security cameras, in the video of the security cameras, the man enters the fitting room first, at 17h43, to the right side. Then, at 5:44 p.m., the mother moves to the left side of the video and enters the first booth, where the children’s fitting room is located. The child follows the mother, but ends up going to the opposite side. At 17:47, about four minutes later, the child and mother meet outside the fitting room.

See video:

Rogério presented himself to the police on the 21st of the same month. According to the testimonies collected by delegate Joyce Coelho, head of the Specialized Police Station for Crimes Against Children and Adolescents (Depca), the mother and the child said that the man would have smoothed the child’s body and kissed his mouth. Rogério denies the crime.

On April 19, Rogério Lindoso dos Passos, 31, was released after a month in a prison unit.

See the full note:

The technical defense of Rogério Lindoso dos Passos comes to the public to inform the following:

Regarding the complaint that the MP-AM asked for the filing and went back, it is a manifestation issued by the Excellency Mr. Attorney General of Justice who expressly stated that he did not know the entire content of the investigation, but that he still decided to disagree with the filing due to the abstract gravity of the accusation.

Our position has not changed, we continue with a robust evidentiary material resulting from defensive criminal investigation that proves Rogério’s innocence, we filed reports of crimes to the Public Prosecutor’s Office due to the abuse of authorities suffered by Rogério, as well as informing the Regional Council of Psychology of the ethical infraction resulting from the unsubstantiated report that makes up the records of the police investigation that in our view is null and void of full right.

There was not even an investigation, the investigation made was only by Rogerio’s defense that proves his innocence, the breaking of the chain of custody is the least of the problems we have identified, if in fact the minor was abused by someone, we believe it was not that day and time, much less by Rogerio, but this will hardly be discovered due to the irregular biased investigation.

Our serious revelations will be made at the appropriate time in the judicial proceedings, where we will expose to the magistrate the serious information we obtained in the context of this disastrous police operation that resulted in an indictment of an innocent man.

Among the practices, we even list the attempt by the Civil Police to intimidate our technical expert hired by the technical defense and the defamation and lawfare techniques used politically to try to embarrass the defense of the accused who, yes, is innocent until there is at least one judicial process in his disfavor.

It is in the interest of society that any person who has committed abuse of authority be exemplarily punished and receive the penalty of dismissal from the honorable public office and consequently of their political rights, because wanting to condemn the innocent without evidence is also a crime.

Alexandre Torres Jr.
Lawyer