Lira’s ex-wife takes complaint against him to the Inter-American court

In the complaint, the president of the Chamber is accused of physical and psychological attacks. The petition, signed by lawyer Talitha Camargo da Fonseca, also cites cases of death threats, financial and psychological control, as well as interference in legal processes. Jullyene alleges that she suffered retaliation after reporting the crimes.

When contacted, Lira’s advisors stated that they would not comment. Behind the scenes, Lira often says that his ex-wife always repeats accusations at election time.

The STF acquitted Lira of these charges in 2015. In addition to the lack of evidence, the ministers understood that the crime was time-barred, due to the delay in presenting the complaint.

The petition, as is the rule of the Inter-American Commission, is against the Brazilian state and requests that national authorities act both to protect the alleged victim and to create mechanisms that strengthen the position of women who have been targets of violence.

The lawyer also asks for compensation of R$1 million from the Brazilian state, due to her action that would have “made invisible” the situation of Lira’s ex-partner.

According to the petition, the deputy had used “his position of political influence to intimidate and silence the victim, in addition to obstructing her access to justice.” The attacks, according to the text, would have occurred over a long period of time and left emotional consequences for Jullyene.

The document, with more than 140 pages, also includes medical reports and witness statements. In the complaint, the lawyer also points to the Brazilian State’s failure to guarantee Jullyene’s protection.

According to the lawyer, the Ministry of Human Rights did not include the deputy’s ex-partner in the witness protection program.

In another part of the petition, the lawyer points out how Lira’s ex-wife “was called by the Court to give a statement to the Federal Police in the Taturana (2016) and Lava-Jato (2019) Operations, helping to combat corruption in Brazil” . But, according to the complaint, “the Public Ministry of the state of Alagoas said it could not protect her in the state’s territory.”

In June of this year, when the president of the Chamber began to be attacked amid the debate on the abortion bill, he asked the STF to remove interviews carried out with his ex-wife with the same accusations.

Minister Alexandre de Moraes even ordered the censorship of an interview from Folha de S. Paulo, an article from the Terra portal, a video from Mídia Ninja and an article from the Brasil de Fato website. The minister, however, ended up reviewing the decision and understood that some of the links that the president of the Chamber wanted to take down were from journalistic articles published longer ago and were not attacks against Lira.