Historic! Brazil is held responsible for the improper use of parliamentary immunity as an obstacle to the investigation and trial of the feminicide of Márcia Barbosa, according to the sentence of the Inter-American Court 

• The Inter-American Court determined that the judicial guarantees and access to justice of Marcia’s relatives were violated by the disproportionate and arbitrary application of parliamentary immunity.
• The Inter-American Court recognized that there is a context of structural and generalized violence against women in Brazil, in which the overlapping oppression and discrimination renders some groups of women especially vulnerable.
• The case, litigated by CEJIL and GAJOP, received a sentence after 21 years in the Inter-American System of Human Rights. 

San José / Washington / Rio de Janeiro / Recife, November 24, 2021. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a historic decision in the case of Márcia Barbosa de Souza et al. v. Brazil, determining for the first time the responsibility of the Brazilian State in a case of feminicide, in addition to establishing parameters on the compatibility of parliamentary immunities with the American Convention on Human Rights and recognizing that there is a context of structural and systematic gender violence in the country, aggravated by discrimination on the basis of race and social condition.

Márcia Barbosa de Souza was a young 20-year-old student, black and from a family with scarce economic resources in the interior of Paraíba. After migrating to João Pessoa, she met Congressman Aércio Pereira, who offered her a job in a shoe factory. One night, after going out to meet Aércio, Marcia used the deputy’s own cell phone to call friends, who were concerned that she sounded distressed throughout the call. Márcia’s family was alerted to the situation, but could not afford to go to the capital to find her. Márcia was murdered that night, by asphyxiation. The next morning, June 18, 1998, a witness saw her body being dumped from the deputy’s car in a vacant lot on the outskirts of João Pessoa. 

Investigations into the crime indicated Aércio as the prime suspect in the murder. The position of deputy, however, granted him the prerogative of parliamentary immunity. The Legislative Assembly of the State of Paraíba did not authorize the beginning of the criminal action offered by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, a situation that lasted for almost five years. The delay in initiating the process resulted in Aércio’s death before a final decision was adopted. In this regard, the Inter-American Court determined that the judicial guarantees and access to justice of Marcia’s family members were violated by the disproportionate and arbitrary application of formal parliamentary immunity by the Assembly, which did not comply with the requirements of due legal process and disregarded the seriousness of the crime as well as the absence of any relationship between the crime and parliamentary activity. 

The judgment establishes parameters for the application of formal parliamentary immunity to be made in accordance with the American Convention, including following an swift procedure, with a legal provision and clear rules, complying with the guarantees of due process and including a strict proportionality test that takes into account the seriousness of the accusation. Thus, the ruling represented an opportunity for the Court to create jurisprudence for the entire region regarding parliamentary immunity and its procedural aspects.

In the feminicide of Marcia, numerous stereotypes – of gender, social status and race – were present, which, together, perpetuate structural violence against women. These stereotypes manifested themselves constantly in the investigation and trial proceedings of the crime. At all times, justice system officials and the accused’s lawyers sought to point to supposed aspects of Marcia’s behavior and sexuality to construct the image that she deserved what happened. These stereotypes caused deep suffering to the family members and ensured that the case went unpunished, since evidence pointing to the participation of other people in the crime was never investigated.

In light of this, the Court determined a violation of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará), concluding that the discriminatory conduct of the authorities contributed to sending a message that violence against women can be tolerated and accepted.

As a form of reparation for the violations committed, the Court determined, in addition to individual measures aimed at Márcia’s family members, non-repetition measures, which aim to prevent similar events from occurring in the future. The Court also ordered Brazil to develop a national system to compile data on violence against women, with detailed information on the profile of victims and the implementation of a training plan, with a gender and race perspective, for officials who work in investigations; and to create a national protocol with guidelines for the investigation of crimes of feminicide.

Helena Rocha, director of the program for Brazil and the Southern Cone of CEJIL, the organization that brought the case to the Inter-American System along with GAJOP, expressed: “The sentence is historic in that it recognizes the structural and systematic nature of gender violence in Brazil and its intersectionalities, which demands an increased duty from the State to guarantee access to effective justice without discrimination, that is, with a gender perspective and away from negative stereotypes. Finally, it is a breath to Marcia’s family who fought for years to obtain justice in relation to her death and her memory.”  In parallel, Rodrigo Deodato of GAJOP stated, “The Márcia Barbosa case represents for the international and local sphere, at all levels, the struggle to end the violation, still so present, of the Rights of Women, especially black and backwoods women like Márcia. May the sentence issued by the Honorable Court IDH be a landmark in its jurisprudence dedicated to Brazil and represent for the family of Márcia Barbosa the much desired justice. “