The Civil Police of Porto Alegre will ask the IGP (Instituto Geral de Perícias) to read the lips of the moment when midfielder Edenilson, from Internacional, accuses defender Rafael Ramos, from Corinthians, of racial slur, during a match between the teams held on Saturday. (14), at the Beira-Rio stadium, for the Brazilian Championship.
According to delegate Ana Luiza Caruso, responsible for the 2nd Civil Police Station in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, an inquiry to investigate the case will be opened this Monday (16), when the request will be made to the IGP.
THE Sheet, the delegate said that she should ask for the indictment of the player from the São Paulo team. “In principle, due to the evidentiary context that we formed yesterday (14), when we made the hearings, both of the author of the fact and of Edenilson, we reached the conclusion that, in principle, we will forward it to the indictment.”
Also according to the person responsible for the case, the athlete from the gaucho club reported having had a conversation with the Corinthians player, in which he was waiting for an apology. “How did you not come [o pedido]he ended up deciding to start the criminal action”, said the delegate.
Rafael Ramos was arrested in the act by delegate Carlo Vitarelli, about two hours after the game, still inside the Beira-Rio stadium. According to delegate Ana Luiza Caruso, Corinthians paid a bond of R$10,000, and the athlete was released.
In his testimony, Ramos denied that he called Edenilson a “monkey”. According to him, what he said at the time was “bro, fuck”.
After what happened, Edenilson spoke on Instagram. He began by saying that he “knows what he heard” and that he sought out the Corinthians athlete “so that he would come out and apologize, after all we all make mistakes and we have the right to admit it”.
However, wrote the Internacional player, “he continued to say that I had misunderstood”. “I didn’t get it wrong, I looked for him because of the respect I have for some members of Corinthians, and so that he could have a chance to redeem himself”, he added.
About the conversation with the player from the Rio Grande do Sul team, Rafael Ramos said that he “has a clear head and conscience and that “it was all a misunderstanding”.
In a note, Internacional stated that “It’s unacceptable that events of this type still occur in 2022, there is no room for racism in our society.”
Corinthians, also in a statement, said it does not condone racism, and that “the payment of bail does not imply admission of guilt, allowing the athlete to defend himself in freedom in the investigation.”
According to the president of the Commission for Racial Equality of the OAB-SP (Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil), Irapuã Santana, in cases like this, the set of evidence in the investigation usually includes the testimonies of those involved and witnesses, as well as the expertise of any audios and images.
“Any element that demonstrates the fact, as long as it is obtained in a lawful manner and does not offend the rights of the accused, can be considered evidence within a criminal proceeding,” he said. “From there, the prosecution and defense can present any elements that may prove guilt or absence of guilt.”
The act of racial slur would have occurred in the 30th minute of the second half, when the two players had a falling out after a game dispute. When the ball went out to the side, the Colorado athlete addressed referee Braulio da Silva Machado to report that he would have been called a “monkey”.
The referee was also called to give his testimony, which contributed to the Civil Police’s decision for the arrest in the act.
In Brazil, one of the most repercussions that also involved the arrest of a player occurred in 2005, when Argentine Leandro Desábato received a voice in prison at the Morumbi stadium shortly after the game between São Paulo and Quilmes (ARG), for Libertadores.
At the time, he was accused of practicing racial offenses against the striker Grafite, who remembers being called a “black shit” by his opponent, as he said in a recent interview with Sheet. Desábato also posted bail and was released to return to his country.
Rafael Ramos will respond to the process in freedom. He even traveled with Corinthians to Argentina, where the team faces Boca Juniors on Tuesday (17), for Libertadores.
According to the Observatory of Racial Discrimination, between 2014 and 2021, 330 episodes involving suspected racism and racial slurs in Brazilian football were recorded, with the numbers from the last year (53) still preliminary.
Until 2020, none of the cases monitored by the entity ended in punishment in the criminal sphere. Of the total, only 49 were judged by the Sports Justice (TJD/STJD), and 30 of them generated some sanction. Most of the penalties were in the form of a fine (between R$ 400 and R$ 50 thousand) and/or suspension. Only three episodes were punished with loss of field command, and two, with loss of points.
In addition to these, four cases were tried and punished within the scope of CONMEBOL (South American Football Confederation), with fines ranging from US$10,000 to US$20,000.
According to the survey, 70% of recorded episodes took place in stadiums, 23% on the internet and 6% in other spaces.
The Brazilian states with the most complaints registered —and also the only ones with cases identified in every year since 2014— are Rio Grande do Sul (29.4%), São Paulo (14.7%) and Minas Gerais (7.4% ).
For Marcelo de Carvalho, executive director of the Observatory of Racial Discrimination in Football, these numbers are linked to impunity.
“As much as we have some cases punished, more effective punishment is lacking. In some cases, even with all possible elements for punishment of those involved, as in cases involving clubs, the club ends up being acquitted because a football club does not can be punished for the act of a fan, for example,” said Carvalho.
According to him, when a punishment occurs, it is usually a low-value fine and this amount is not intended to combat racism.
“At this moment, when we are observing an increasing number of cases, we need to work with punishments. And work, mainly, with the accountability of clubs. If the club was punished for racism, this fine needs to be destined for a campaign to combat racism,” he added.
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