Supreme Court ruling: sex on military premises is crime
Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, rapporteur of the process (Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil)
The Federal Supreme Court (STF) ruled on Wednesday (Oct. 28) for upholding the enforcement of the Article 235 of the Military Penal Code which defines as punishable by six months to one year of imprisonment for "a military office to undertake obscene acts during their military activities."
The Military Penal Code, which came into force in1969, during the military regime, defines as sexual offense for the armed forces "to undertake or indulge in obscene acts, whether homosexual or not, within premises under military discipline."
The rapporteur of the process, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, was outvoted. He understood that to criminally punish the sexual misconduct within military premises was unreasonable. For Barroso, these acts should be administratively punished, according to the armed forces' disciplinary rules.
"To uphold a legal device that considers the consensual sex between adults a military crime, even without the pejorative expressions like pederasty and homosexual, exerts, despite the apparent neutrality, a disproportionate impact on homosexuals, which is incompatible with the principle of equality," reported Barroso.
The case was filed in 2013 by the Prosecutor-General's Office. At the time, the then Deputy Prosecutor Helenita Acioli filed the case for unconstitutionality of the article criminalizing the sexual activity within military premises, for it violated the principles of human dignity, equality, and freedom outlined in the Constitution.
Translated by Amarílis Anchieta
Fonte: Supreme Court ruling: sex on military premises is crime
