Ten years after the tragedy that took the lives of 242 people at the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, no one has been held accountable. Relatives and victims of the tragedy, which completes a decade in this friday(27), still awaiting the judicial outcome.
Nightclub partners Elissandro Spohr and Mauro Hoffmann; the vocalist of the band Gurizada Fandangueira, Marcelo de Jesus dos Santos; and auxiliary Luciano Bonilha Leão were accused of homicide by the State Public Ministry (MPE). In 2021, they were sentenced by the Jury Court to sentences of 18 to 22 years in prison. On the grounds of non-compliance with rules in the formation of the Sentencing Council, the State Court of Justice annulled the sentence and revoked the prison in August last year. The MEP appealed the decision.
The regional delegate of Santa Maria, Sandro Luís Meinerz, who conducted the investigation of the case, regrets the delay in justice.
“We are now closing on the 27th, ten years of this absurd tragedy and, unfortunately, no final answer to this process has been given to society and, mainly, to the parents and relatives of those victims who died, apart from those who were left with sequelae”, he said.
Luciano Bonilha’s defense claims that the jury’s sentence, which was annulled, was unfair. Lawyer Jean Severo expects a solution at the end of this year. Mauro Londero’s lawyer, Bruno Seligman de Menezes, hopes that the annulment will be maintained and that a new trial will have a fair sentence.
According to singer Marcelo Santos’ lawyer, Tatiana Vizzotto Borsa, the musician continues to work in São Vicente do Sul, pending the decision of higher courts. Elissandro Spohr’s defense declined to comment.
The Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul said, in a note, that in addition to the four defendants for homicide, 19 people, including firefighters and former partners of the nightclub, were accused of crimes such as ideological falsehood and negligence.
Another 27 people were denounced for ideological falsehood, because they signed a document saying they lived less than 100 meters from the nightclub, which was proven to be a lie.
