Brazil\u2019s President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva has fired Human Rights Minister Silvio Almeida following reports he engaged in sexual misconduct. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe president considers keeping the minister in his position to be unsustainable considering the nature of the accusations,\u201d the presidential palace said in a statement Friday evening. Almeida has denied any wrongdoing. <\/p>\n
Local media outlets reported Thursday night that MeToo Brasil, an organization that defends women victims of sexual violence, had received complaints of sexual misconduct by Almeida. The organization confirmed that in a subsequent statement. <\/p>\n
The minister for racial equality Anielle Franco – who the press named as one of the alleged victims – saluted Lula\u2019s decision. <\/p>\n
\u201cRecognizing the seriousness of this practice and acting immediately is the right course of action, which is why I would like to highlight President Lula\u2019s forceful action and thank him for all the expressions of support and solidarity,\u201d Franco said in a statement on Instagram late on Friday. <\/p>\n
She also shot back at attempts to \u201cblame, disqualify, embarrass or pressure victims to speak out in moments of pain and vulnerability,\u201d adding a request that her space and right to privacy be respected. Franco is the sister of slain councilwoman Marielle Franco. <\/p>\n
Lula previously said on social media Friday that the public prosecutors\u2019 office, comptroller general and the presidency\u2019s ethics commission would investigate, while guaranteeing Almeida\u2019s right to a defense. <\/p>\n
In a statement on Friday, Almeida said he had asked Lula to dismiss him \u201cin order to grant freedom and impartiality to the investigations, which must be carried out with the necessary rigor.\u201d <\/p>\n
Almeida said in a statement last night that he repudiates \u201cwith absolute vehemence the lies\u201d claimed about his behavior, and denounced a \u201ccampaign to tarnish my image as a Black man in a prominent position in government.\u201d He also warned that false accusations are a crime. <\/p>\n
Brazil\u2019s first lady Ros\u00e2ngela da Silva \u2014 known as Janja \u2014 is a prominent voice for the defense of women\u2019s rights, and on Thursday posted a picture on her Instagram account of her kissing Franco on the forehead, in a sign of support. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs often happens in cases of sexual violence involving aggressors in positions of power, these victims faced difficulties in obtaining institutional support to validate their complaints,\u201d MeToo Brasil said in a statement Thursday. \u201cAs a result, they allowed the case to be confirmed to the press.\u201d <\/p>\n
Friday afternoon, Isabel Rodrigues, a professor and a city council candidate in a municipality of Sao Paulo state, posted a video Friday on Instagram with the aim of adding her testimonial to those of the yet-unnamed women. She said Almeida sexually assaulted her in 2019, putting his hand up her skirt and touching her private parts without her consent. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was horrible what Silvio did. My therapist knows. My friends know. I was Silvio\u2019s victim. I am a voice for these women. For justice and for the truth,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Brazil\u2019s President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva has fired Human Rights Minister Silvio Almeida following reports he engaged in sexual misconduct. \u201cThe president considers keeping the minister in his position to be unsustainable considering the nature of the accusations,\u201d the presidential palace said in a statement Friday evening. Almeida has denied any wrongdoing. Local media outlets reported <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}