Mariana Ferrer says that recognizing victims' rights does not reduce the guarantees of defendants

At an event at the Minas Gerais section of the OAB (Brazilian Bar Association), she highlighted the advances promoted by the law that bears her name and highlighted that "recognizing the rights of victims will never mean reducing the guarantees of the accused".

When analyzing her case, the ministers pointed out the humiliation to which she was subjected by the lawyer of businessman André de Camargo Aranha.

Case rapporteur, Minister Alexandre de Moraes stated at the time that Mariana Ferrer received "cruel and shameful" treatment by the accused's defense. Aranha's new representatives reaffirmed his innocence.

The Supreme Court therefore determined that evidence obtained in cases involving sexual crimes that disregard the victim's fundamental rights, dignity, honor, intimacy and psychological integrity is null and void. Ferrer's case will have a new trial in Santa Catarina on a date to be defined.

"The Constitution does not only protect those who respond to the process. It protects every person whose dignity may be affected by the actions of the State", said Ferrer in his speech this Friday.

The position is part of a speech prepared for the event designed by the section's Commission for Combating Domestic and Family Violence Against Women.

In the ESA (Escola Superior de Advocacia) room, she stated that Law 14,245, of 2021, the Mariana Ferrer Law, went beyond the limits of a procedural reform to inaugurate "a new paradigm of protecting the dignity of the victimized person".

The norm, she highlighted, marked a change in the way the legal system began to understand the rights of victims.

Ferrer maintained that the main legacy of the legislation is still under construction. For her, the law has the potential to evolve and consolidate a permanent regime of protection for victims in the country.

According to her, who presides over Intervid (International Victims' Law Forum), the biggest transformation promoted by the legislation was to change the position of the victim within the Justice system. "For the first time, the victim is no longer understood only as a subject of evidence to definitively occupy the status of subject of rights."

She stated that this change goes beyond the criminal process and should guide all state action, reaching universities, educational institutions, companies, public bodies and any environment in which the dignity of the human person must be preserved.

At the end of her speech, the lawyer reflected on the future given the advancement of artificial intelligence. For her, the challenge is not just technological, but constitutional.

"The real question is another: will it be able to identify institutional violence? Prevent revictimization? Will you be able to understand that no search for procedural truth justifies the violation of human dignity?" he asked.

"I am convinced that the greatest legacy of the Mariana Ferrer Law still belongs to the future." She reinforced the desire to build "a future in which no person has to choose between seeking justice and preserving their dignity."

This Friday (3), the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (United Nations) made public a letter sent to the Brazilian State in which it points out possible procedural violations in Ferrer's case and requests information about the existence of disciplinary investigations conducted by the CNJ (National Council of Justice), in addition to questioning whether reparation measures were adopted for the victim.

Read Also: Eloá's lieutenant brother's cell phone was not handed over for the police investigation