August 16, 2001
Case: Mário Coelho de Almeida, hijo
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City Commissioner Genivaldo Ferreira was freed:
September 15, 2003
Clarinha Glock
City Commissioner Genivaldo Ferreira Nogueira, known as Batata, accused of taking part in the murder of journalist Mário Coelho Filho in Magé, was freed from preventive custody on September 10, 2003. The Rio de Janeiro Court granted him a writ of habeas corpus. He will now await trial a free man under terms of the writ, obtained by his attorney. Nogueira and Reynaldo Polary Stumpf were charged by District Attorney Luciana Braga Martinho on December 17, 2002. Stumpf is alleged to have shot the journalist twice on the orders of Nogueira. If Nogueira’s defense attorney’s petition for dismissal is rejected, Nogueira will stand trial by jury.
At the time the crime was committed Nogueira was chairman of the Magé City Commission. Coelho had published a story in his newspaper, A Verdade, alleging that Nogueira had purchased a fake degree from the local college and he promised to reveal more about the matter. Nogueira was arrested and taken into custody in September 2002, accused of being the mastermind of the June 2002 murder of the deputy mayor, Lídia de Almeida Menezes. He has also been implicated in the murder of City Commissioner Alexandre Alcântara in January 2002.
The writ of habeas corpus in the Coelho murder case was granted in August, but Nogueira remained in custody because he had been ordered held in connection with the Alcântara death. On September 10 the court granted a writ of habeas corpus in this latter case also and he was immediately freed.
As there is presumption of innocence under Brazilian law, Nogueira could resume his seat on the City Commission, but not his position as chairman, because his term in that role expired on December 31, 2002.
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