Appellate judge to be investigated over allegations on killed city councilor

In an announcement made Tuesday (Mar. 20), the National Justice Council said it has opened an investigation into an online publication written by appellate judge Marília de Castro Neves, of the Justice Court of Rio de Janeiro, in which the judge accuses Rio city councilor Marielle Franco, of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), of being “associated with thugs” and involved in the criminal organization Comando Vermelho.

Marielle Franco was executed last week in downtown Rio de Janeiro, with four shots to her head. “Faced with the recent news syndicated on media outlets about the statements made by appellate judge Marília Castro Neves regarding Marielle Franco—former city councilor in Rio de Janeiro—Justice João Otávio de Noronha, of the Disciplinary Board of the Courts, has ruled the opening of proceedings to investigate into the facts,” a note published by the National Justice Council reads.

On Monday (19), the PSOL filed a motion with the National Justice Council calling for a sanction against the appellate judge, who, by making unfounded accusations against Franco, is said to have violated her duty of maintaining an irreproachable conduct as well as personal and professional integrity under the law.

“What she has claimed is extremely serious, as there is no sign to provide a basis for her position, and there will not be one, because it does not exist,” the document submitted by the PSOL says.

Online publications

The Brazilian Association of Jurists for Democracy also urged the National Council of Justice to bring the judge under scrutiny for online posts in which she made ironic remarks about a teacher with Down syndrome. “I wonder what she teaches and who her students are! Now give me a second, I’m off to kill myself and be right back, OK?” the judge wrote on her Facebook page. The National Council of Justice said a request was made for Castro Neves to clarify the matter.

On Tuesday (20), Castro Neves admitted on her Facebook page she was hasty in her remarks about Franco. “In an effort to defend law enforcement institutions—to my mind unjustly attacked—I have hastily relayed news circulating on social media,” she wrote. “The most sensible thing to do would be to wait for probes to come to an end and then decide whether or not I would utter my opinion on the topic as a citizen,” she says in her text.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira