EPTV premieres special series on the 20th anniversary of the Maria da Penha Law The story of struggle and overcoming of Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes, who inspired the creation of the law considered a milestone in the fight against violence against women in Brazil, is the theme of the special series "Dona Penha", on EPTV, an affiliate of TV Globo. ? With 10 episodes, the production will be shown from Monday to Friday, from the 3rd to the 14th of August, on EPTV1. The series is part of the special programming for the 20th anniversary of the Maria da Penha Law. The legislation was born from the trajectory of the activist from Ceará, who survived two femicide attempts by her then husband and faced almost two decades of impunity until her case was recognized internationally. The series rescues this story and shows how she converted her pain into collective strength. Stories of other women survivors from the São Carlos and Araraquara region are interspersed in the reports that also address cases of femicide, rights and the search for justice. ? Follow g1 São Carlos and Araraquara on Instagram Maria da Penha Law The Maria da Penha Law was sanctioned on August 7, 2006, 23 years after the attack that left her paraplegic. In 2025, Law No. 11,340 officially became known as the Maria da Penha Law, reinforcing the recognition of the woman who transformed her own history into a symbol of the fight for the rights of victims of domestic violence. "I consider myself privileged today, when God managed to replace the period in my life with a comma, and I became the activist I am today", stated Maria da Penha. Maria da Penha named the law that combats domestic violence against women in Brazil EPTV/Reproduction Historic landmark against violence Paraplegic and wheelchair-bound after the attack, Maria da Penha transformed her pain into activism. She reported Brazil to the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which condemned the country for failing to protect women. International pressure and the mobilization of feminist movements resulted in the creation of the law in 2006. Considered one of the three most advanced pieces of legislation in the world in the protection of women, the Maria da Penha Law expanded the concept of domestic violence, created urgent protective measures and established public prevention policies. "Despite my limitations, I managed to make my fight for justice raise awareness among other people. My story gave rise to the law that protects all women," he said. Since then, thousands of women have found legal and social support to break cycles of violence. Two attempts at feminicide Maria da Penha met her ex-husband, Colombian Marco Antônio Herédia Viveiros, during her master's degree at the University of São Paulo (USP), in the late 1970s. They got married and had three daughters, but as the years went by, his behavior became violent. On May 29, 1983, Maria da Penha was sleeping when she woke up to a loud bang inside her room, in Fortaleza (CE). Scared, she heard her daughters crying, tried to move, but couldn't. She was shot in the back. “I thought, wow, Marcos killed me, that was my first thought,” he said. At first, her ex-husband Marco Antônio Viveiros said that four robbers entered the house and fought with him. Admitted to the hospital and without communication, she believed this false version. "His statements with his neighbors were very contradictory. For me, I had been the victim of a robbery. I spent two months hospitalized at the Fortaleza Hospital and then went to the rehabilitation hospital in Brasília. He demanded that I hand over all the rights to my salary", he recalled. Still unaware that her ex-husband had shot her, she returned home and once again became the victim of attempted femicide. "I was in private prison, without communicating with my family. He took me to a bathroom where the shower was giving shocks. I complained to the maids and he came out banging and kicking the walls, saying that a shock wouldn't kill anyone," he said. Maria da Penha came to believe that she had been a victim of robbery at the time Archive TV Verdes Mares International pressure and changes Marco Antônio Viveiros was put on trial twice. Convicted, he appealed and remained free. He was arrested only 20 years after the crime, in October 2002, and served two years in prison before being released again. The lack of punishment and solution took Maria da Penha's case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS). In her autobiographical book, "I Survived, I Can Tell", from 1994, she wrote down all the contradictions of the process. And in 1998, together with two human rights entities, he forwarded the book and the complaint for analysis by the OAS. According to Wânia Pasinatoa, senior advisor on violence against women at the United Nations (UN), mechanisms were created that allowed unresolved cases to be reported to international courts. "The commission analyzed all the evidence and recognized that Maria da Penha's case should be attributed as a failure of the Brazilian State to protect women's lives. This international accountability was decisive, and based on these recommendations, the State should develop a special law", he stated. Wânia Pasinato is senior advisor on violence against women at the United Nations (UN). EPTV/Reproduction The advisor emphasized that domestic violence was treated until the 1980s as a private problem for the couple. "They received the institutional response that they should go home, prepare dinner, calm their husband so that this wouldn't happen. Until the 1980s, we mainly had homicides considered crimes of self-defense of honor," said Wânia. Judge Fernanda Yumi Furukawa Hata, from the Itatiba Criminal Court, explained that the Maria da Penha Law represented a change