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A court in Rio de Janeiro state acquitted the last remaining defendants accused of responsibility for a 2019 fire in the sleeping quarters of Brazil’s popular professional soccer club’s academy. FlemishMurder of 10 teenage players.
He was charged with causing the fire by negligence and in May prosecutors sought to convict him. But Tuesday’s ruling said there was not enough evidence to prove the defendants directly contributed to the fire. The decision can be appealed.
“No one can be held criminally liable solely on the basis of their position without concrete evidence of an omission to act or result in a decisive action,” according to a Rio state court statement published Wednesday.
Eleven people were initially charged in 2021, but charges remained against only seven who were acquitted. Charges against the other four were dismissed at the first stage.
Criminal liability for Eduardo Carvalho Bandeira de Mello, who served as club president at the time, was dismissed due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.
There is a possibility of fire in the club brazil One of the most popular and most recognizable Latin AmericaThere was widespread anger at that time.
Firefighters were called just after 5 a.m. to the vast Ninho de Urubu training ground in Rio’s western region.
Like many professional clubs, Flamengo has a development program for promising young players. Many people, especially those who live outside Rio, stay at the facilities while training.
The dream of many Brazilian youngsters, who won five World Cup titles, is to make it to the professional ranks. Academies identify talented players at a young age, work with them as they grow, and the best players eventually play for Flamengo or other teams in Brazil.
Within hours of the fire, the club president called it “the worst tragedy” in the team’s history.
But questions quickly emerged about the safety of the container-like structures, where 26 players were sleeping at the time of the fire.
For at least four years before the fire, the club violated city and code regulations at the training facility, incurred numerous fines and was the target of a lawsuit by state prosecutors related to the treatment of its academy players and their living quarters, The Associated Press reviewed city documents and found a lawsuit at the time.
The decision to acquit the defendants angered some people on social media. An account called Donna Lucia, with more than 90,000 followers on X, said: “Justice “We have the least amount of it in Brazil.”
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