STF denies suspension of process and maintains prosecutor in the Marcius Melhem case

The STF (Supreme Federal Court) denied last Friday (17) the removal of prosecutor Isabela Jourdanda Cruz Moura, from the Public Ministry of Rio, requested by the comedian and former director of Globo Marcius Melhem.

Melhem accused Isabela of being partial in conducting investigations into her cases of harassment involving the broadcaster’s comedy center between 2015 and 2020. The actor also requested the suspension of the action in which he is accused of sexual harassment of three women while he was head of the company. television.

The request was denied by minister Gilmar Mendes. In his view, no defects were proven in the case, or even any problem in the investigation led by Isabela during the period she led the investigations.

Melhem claims that Isabela had been working on the case for only 50 days when the investigation was concluded, and that she could not have found out about it in such a short time.

“In the specific case, there was no violation of the principle of the natural prosecutor, insofar as the appointment of the public prosecutor was not made through case-by-case manipulations and in disagreement with the relevant legal criteria, but for the smooth running of the service, in status as a simple assistant”, Gilmar decided.

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

The Public Prosecutor’s Office would have assessed that the complaint made by Dani against Melhem was 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.

When contacted, Marcius Melhem’s defense did not comment until the report was updated.