The Rio Court accepted the complaint from the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro (MPRJ) and ordered the preventive arrest of Argentine tourist and influencer Agostina Paez for racist offenses on January 14th against four employees of a bar in Ipanema, in the south zone of Rio.
The decision was made by the 37th Criminal Court of Rio. At the request of the Public Ministry, the court had already prohibited the accused from leaving the country, withheld her passport and ordered the use of an electronic ankle bracelet.
Disagreement
According to the criminal action, Agostina “was with two friends in a bar on Rua Vinícius de Moraes, in Ipanema, when she disagreed with the amounts on the bill and called an employee of the establishment black, in an offensive way, with the purpose of discriminating and inferiorizing him due to his race and color”.
Even after being warned by the victim that the conduct constituted a crime in Brazil, the accused went to the bar cashier and called her “mono” (monkey, in Spanish), in addition to making gestures simulating the animal.
According to the complaint, Agostina committed new racist insults after leaving the bar. On the sidewalk in front of the establishment, he uttered other expressions, making noises and again making monkey-like gestures against three bar employees.
In the document, the prosecution highlighted that the victims’ reports were corroborated by witness statements, images from the bar’s internal monitoring circuit and other records produced at the time of the events.
Rejection
“The version presented by the accused that the gestures were mere jokes directed at her friends was also rejected, especially given the fact that one of the tourists tried to prevent Agostina from continuing with the insults, which highlights the companion’s awareness of the reprehensibility of the conduct”.
The crime of racism – provided for in article 2-A, caput, of Law No. 7,716/89 – provides for a prison sentence of two to five years.
