Marcius Melhem questions MP’s complaint and goes to STF to suspend harassment process

The defense of actor Marcius Melhem filed this past Tuesday (8) with a request to the STF (Federal Supreme Court) to suspend the process in which he became a defendant for sexual harassment of three women with whom the director worked at Globo.

Lawyers for the broadcaster’s former executive question the competence of prosecutor Isabela Jourdanda Cruz Moura, from the Public Ministry of Rio, to work on the case, which still does not have a date to be considered by the court.

O F5 gained access to the document. Melhem alleges that Isabela worked on the case for only 50 days, and that she could not find out about a complex case like this one. Lawyers also accuse the prosecutor of creating a maneuver to give veracity to her complaint, using a newly sworn prosecutor, who was investigating the action.

“To try to hide the patent violation, signed together with Dr. Isabela Jourdan, the prosecutor Fernando Cury, who started to officiate in the natural prosecutor’s office this August. The MPRJ tries to suggest, therefore, that the natural prosecutor would have endorsed the complaint offered”, states the document.

“The complaint is dated August 2nd and, according to the same movement, at least until July 28th, Dr. Fernando Cury did not even appear as a prosecutor linked to the 2nd Public Prosecutor’s Office for Territorial Criminal Investigation in the Botafogo and Copacabana area The doctor stayed with the investigation for almost two months until the complaint was offered and signed with a prosecutor who had been with the agency for a maximum of three days!”, comment the lawyers.

On July 12, Melhem’s defense had already appealed to the STF to question the prosecutor’s performance in the investigation, and asked that she be prevented from acting in the case. As she filed a complaint and Melhem became a defendant, now the request is for the process to be suspended in order for the court to judge whether Isabela Jordana is fit to act in the case.

The action runs in the 20th Criminal Court of the TJ-RJ (Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro). If the request is accepted by the Supreme Court, the complaint is suspended and the case returns to the prosecution with a new designated prosecutor, without Isabela acting. The case is in the hands of Minister Gilmar Mendes. The tendency is for it to be judged in the coming days, since there is an urgent nature.

Marcius Melhem became a defendant at TJ-RJ for three cases of sexual harassment at Globo, which began to be reported in 2019, after reports by Dani Calabresa. The case of the comedian and four other whistleblowers were filed for legal reasons.

The Public Ministry would have considered that the complaint made by Dani against Melhem is of sexual harassment. The crime did not exist in 2017, when the alleged act would have occurred. At the time, the law only provided for sexual harassment.

Sought after, Marcius Melhem’s defense confirms the request to the STF. The report tries to speak with the promoter Isabela Jourdan, but there was no response until the last update.