The articles written by the PÚBLICO Brasil team are written in the variant of the Portuguese language used in Brazil.
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A teacher and PSB candidate for the City Council of Santo André, in the ABC region of São Paulo, published a video this Friday (6) accusing Silvio Almeida of having touched her without consent during a lunch in the presence of others, in 2019, before he became the Minister of Human Rights under the Lula (PT) government.
“I sat next to Silvio. He was on my right side and I was on the left. I was wearing a skirt. He lifted the skirt and put his hand on my intimate parts with intent,” said Isabel Rodrigues, in a video published on Instagram.
The abuse, according to her, allegedly occurred during a lunch in Praça da República, in downtown São Paulo, during a break in a course on necropolitics where Silvio Almeida was one of the speakers.
The episode was reported by Isabel after Silvio Almeida became the target of harassment allegations collected by the NGO Me Too Brasil and revealed by the portal Metrópoles. One of the victims reportedly being the Minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco.
“You are crazy”
The Ministry of Human Rights was contacted but did not provide an official statement by the publication of this report. Almeida denied the previous harassment allegations on Thursday (5/9) and stated they are insinuations and lies.
In her video, Isabel claimed to have called Almeida to confront him about the case. “You are crazy, Isabel,” he allegedly said, according to her. “How many times have we met and nothing happened?” Later, according to the teacher, Almeida supposedly said he was unwell and would talk to a therapist “for having done harm to a friend he cared about a lot.”
In an interview with a radio station in Goiânia this Friday, Lula said that “someone who commits harassment will not stay in the government.”
“What I can tell you is this: someone who practices harassment will not remain in the government. I just have to have the good sense that we need to allow the right to defense, to the presumption of innocence. He has the right to defend himself,” the president stated.
Ministers interviewed by Folha believe that the head of the Human Rights ministry will be dismissed.
Almeida denied previous allegations in a note issued on Thursday. “I absolutely repudiate the lies that are being directed against me,” the text reads. “I repudiate such accusations with the strength of the love and respect I have for my wife and my beloved 1-year-old daughter, amidst the struggle I face daily in favor of human rights and citizenship in this country.”
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