Overview
- The Supreme Federal Court voted unanimously on June 18 to annul the acquittal of businessman André de Camargo Aranha and ordered the case returned to first instance in Santa Catarina for retrial.
- The Court established a binding repercussão geral thesis that any evidence produced in sexual‑crime proceedings is null when obtained through conduct that violates a victim’s dignity, honor or psychological integrity.
- The ruling bars the original judge and prosecutor from taking part in the new proceedings and requires disciplinary, civil and criminal inquiries into magistrates, prosecutors and other actors who failed to protect the victim.
- The decision allows victims, with their consent, to have testimony recorded and kept confidential in the file and says retrials must reassess admissible evidence rather than resolve the defendant’s guilt at the Supreme Court level.
- The judgment builds on public outrage and the 2021 Lei Mariana Ferrer and will shape how lower courts handle sexual‑violence cases nationwide by making victim protection a ground for nullifying tainted proofs.