• rollin@piefed.social
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    28
    ·
    10 hours ago

    that was a shocking article, I had no idea that went on in Brazil.

    A Brazilian court’s decision to acquit a 35-year-old man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl—arguing that they were “two young lovers” united by “a consensual emotional bond”

    Some 34,000 Brazilian girls under the age of 14, mostly poor and Black, declared themselves as “married” in the census

  • Nollij@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    9 hours ago

    I couldn’t tell from the article. Does the Brazilian justice system work differently than I expect? It just says he was initially convicted, but then exonerated. Does that mean the charges were thrown out for lack of evidence, procedural missteps, or something of that nature? Or was it dismissed because the judges disagreed with the law? Or am I completely misreading/misunderstanding the whole thing?

    • Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      34
      ·
      edit-2
      8 hours ago

      Hi. Brazilian former lawyer here.

      It was because the appeals court judges disagreed with the law, basically. See, any sort of sexual encounter with a person under 14 is considered statutory rape in Brazil, but the judges decided to base their decision on the “regular” rape article, which requires some kind of violence, drugging or deception.

      To be perfectly clear, this is not and never was up to them. If a conduct matches a criminal type, which this one absolutely does, the judge does not have the authority to ignore it because it doesn’t match some other arbitrary type. You don’t get to walk free from murder because you didn’t rob a newsstand while murdering. This decision was entirely illegal and will be reversed, especially now thay the media is aware. I just hope the disgusting pervert judges who wrote it are exonerated as well.

      • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        7 hours ago

        It surprises me that the judge(s) don’t seem to care if their decision is reversed. In Canada it’s somewhat frowned upon for judges to seemingly take the law into their own hands, only to be reversed at a later date.

        • Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          6 hours ago

          The rapist in this case has ties to large drug cartels. It’s not unthinkable that the judges do too and were told to let him off the hook. Either that or they’re pedos themselves, but there’s definitely something very strange going on that hasn’t been made public.

        • hector@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          7 hours ago

          I find the thought of judges deciding guilt or innocence horrifying. That it would lead to unthinkable outcomes in the US. Jury trials are one of the most important freedoms ever extracted from the ruling class.

          Judges appointed by politicians/other bureaucrats would lead to very bad faith, cynical people being appointed, or elected. The judges in the US are quite corrupted for the prosecution. They pretend to believe the prosecution and cops, and support direct violations of the bill of rights that no reasonable person would think are not violations. They by and large are cynical and think the Republic is already dead, it’s only the citizens that either don’t know it, or are contesting it. For all of their faults, you want them deciding guilt and innocence before old boys appointed by the network.

          • Coriza@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            43 minutes ago

            I may be wrong but I think judges are not elected nor politically appointed in Brazil (I think the exception is the supreme Court). They are like other public jobs that you have to pass an exam and compete with other candidates.

            • hector@lemmy.today
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              6 hours ago

              Well that is good at least the most serious ones are. The UK was the birthplace of modern jury trials, and they cancelled them for charges up to 3 years in prison. Their “left” politicians under labor did it at that, (after the tories did up to 1 year in prison in 2020,) after they sabotaged the workings of the courts to create backlogs, and used the backlogs as en excuse to cancel jury trials.

              Most of west europe has them to lesser degrees than the UK and US and the like.

  • Big Baby Thor@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    9
    ·
    11 hours ago

    The two people who down voted this are: A) confused about what the down vote is supposed to be for, or B) pedos.