The 2nd Criminal Court of Nova Iguaçu, in the state of Rio, ordered the preventive detention of six people, including partners and employees of the PCS Labs Saleme laboratory. They are accused of being responsible for the erroneous laboratory tests that resulted in the release, for transplant, of organs infected with the HIV virus [sigla em inglês para o vírus da imunodeficiência humana].
Among those targeted by the arrest warrants are two laboratory partners, Walter Vieira, who was already in prison, and his son Matheus Sales Teixeira Bandoli Vieira. Matheus spontaneously presented himself to the police this Wednesday (23), according to lawyer Afonso Destri.
“The decision is absolutely illegal and constitutes a clear anticipation of punishment, without process, without trial. The decision does not provide any concrete fact that authorizes preventive detention. Matheus always cooperated with the investigations, so much so that he was not even subject to temporary arrest. We will file habeas corpus against this illegality”, said the lawyer.
The arrests of laboratory employees Adriana Vargas dos Anjos, Jacqueline Iris Barcellar de Assis, Ivanilson Fernandes dos Santos and Cleber de Oliveira Santos, who are already in prison, were also ordered.
Bodily injury
The six are responsible for the crimes of serious bodily injury that resulted in an incurable disease, criminal organization and ideological falsehood. Jacqueline is also responsible for forgery of a private document.
According to the complaint from the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro (MPRJ), the result of the organ donor’s blood test, which was seropositive, was “false negative” due to the degradation of the reagents that detect the virus.
The MPRJ claims that it was possible that the defendants knew, given the functions performed in their activities, that the reagents degrade as they remain in the equipment used for the examination for a long time.
Also according to the MPRJ, until last year, quality control of reagents was carried out daily, but from the beginning of this year, the procedure began to be carried out only weekly, with the aim of reducing costs, which would compromise the accuracy of the results. results.