Roger Abdelmassih | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Brazilian |
Roger Abdelmassih (born 3 October 1943) is a former Brazilian physician, an expert on human reproduction, and one of the pioneers of in-vitro fertilization in Brazil. In early 2009 he was accused of sexually abusing sedated patients. [1] Abdelmassih was sentenced to 278 years in prison for 52 rapes and 39 attempted sexual abuses on women.
Abdelmassih was born to Lebanese parents in São João da Boa Vista, São Paulo. During his career as a physician, he operated a clinic in a prime area of the state capital and became nationally known for treating the wives of celebrities such as Pelé, the former president Fernando Collor, comedian Tom Cavalcante and the Senator Renan Calheiros. One of his most publicized cases was the twin sons of the television presenter Gugu Liberato. [2]
Beginning in early 2009, several sources in the Brazilian press reported allegations that the doctor had sexually abused patients, [1] [3] while Abdelmassih denied the charges. [4] There were more than 60 complaints from former patients [5] in three different states. Abdelmassih denied the charges, saying he was being pursued by dissatisfied clients and competitors trying to frame him. [6]
On 17 August 2009, Bruno Paes Stranforini, Judge of the 16th Criminal Court of São Paulo, ordered Abdelmassih's arrest. [7] On 24 December, after four months in jail, Abdelmassih was released after Gilmar Mendes, the president of the Supreme Federal Court, granted him habeas corpus, revoking his preventive custody. [8]
Roger Abdelmassih had his professional registration revoked on 20 May 2011, and was sentenced on 23 November 2010, to 278 years in prison by Judge Kenarik Boujikian Felippe of the 16th Criminal Court of São Paulo. He was charged with raping 56 patients in his clinic.[ citation needed ]
Abdelmassih was initially denied the right to appeal his conviction before being imprisoned, but was eventually granted that right. However, after news that he would try to renew his passport, his arrest was requested once again, as it was believed that he intended to flee the country. Before he could be captured, he fled in early 2011, and appeared on the list of criminals wanted by Interpol [9] as well as the list of 25 most wanted criminals of the Civil Police of São Paulo. [10]
It was initially assumed that Abdelmassih had fled over the border into Paraguay and then Uruguay and used a false passport to go from there to Lebanon, with which Brazil has no extradition treaty. [11] Abdelmassih had recently married a former prosecutor of the republic, Larissa Maria Sacco, 36 years his junior; they have twin sons. She resigned her office in 2011 and fled with her husband. [12]
After being sought by the Brazilian police for more than three years, Roger Abdelmassih was arrested by federal police on the afternoon of Tuesday, 19 August 2014, at 13:25 in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, near the school where the couple's children were enrolled. The following day he was returned to Brazil, and immediately imprisoned in the Penitentiary II Tremembé. [13] [14]
Abdelmassih's lawyers declined to comment on his arrest. A statement issued by former Minister of Justice Márcio Thomaz Bastos and José Luis Oliveira Lima stated that they were still awaiting the outcome of an appeal to the Court of Justice of São Paulo against the initial conviction. Even though Abdelmassih has fled, the lawyers can still appeal to the higher courts in Brasilia. The São Paulo State Prosecutor also appealed to increase the penalty, which totals 278 years in prison. Brazilian law forbids imprisonment to exceed 30 years. [15]
Rede Globo's series Assédio , based on the book A Clínica – A Farsa e os Crimes de Roger Abdelmassih by Vicente Vilardaga, was released on 21 September 2018.
Primeiro Comando da Capital is, according to a 2012 Brazilian Government report, the largest Brazilian criminal organization, with a membership of almost 20,000 members, 6,000 of whom are in prison.
The 1st Shock Police Battalion of the São Paulo Military Police, also known as Rondas Ostensivas Tobias de Aguiar is a tactical police unit, mostly known by its acronym ROTA. Focusing on flexibility and quick reaction, its responsibilities include heavily armed motorized patrols, as well as deployment in the event of civil unrest to restore public order and counter-insurgency operations.
Corruption in Brazil exists on all levels of society from the top echelons of political power to the smallest municipalities. Operation Car Wash showed central government members using the prerogatives of their public office for rent-seeking activities, ranging from political support to siphoning funds from state-owned corporation for personal gain. Mensalão for example was the practice of transferring taxpayer funds as monthly allowances to members of congress from other political parties in consideration for their support and votes in congress. Politicians used the state-owned and state-run oil company Petrobras to raise hundreds of millions of reais for political campaigns and personal enrichment.
Ciro Nogueira Lima Filho is a Brazilian lawyer, businessman, politician, and a member of the Progressistas (PP) party, of which he is the current president. He has represented Piauí in the Federal Senate since 2011. Previously, he was a Federal Deputy representing Piauí from 1995 to 2011. He is a member of Progressistas.
Events in the year 2014 in Brazil.
Rafael Marques Lusvarghi is a Hungarian Brazilian former military, activist and policeman. After serving in the French Foreign Legion, the Brazilian Military Police and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, he became nationally known in Brazil for his arrest during the 2014 FIFA World Cup protests, afterwards going to the Luhansk People's Republic, where he fought for Russia and became a senior lieutenant for the Prizrak Brigade. After having returned to Brazil, he was arrested during a layover in Ukraine and condemned to thirteen years in prison in counts of terrorism and formation of an illegal paramilitary unit. Having been provisionally released by a court of appeal, he was suddenly captured in 2018 by Azov Battalion and C14 and taken to authorities, which hastened his trial, afterwards provisorily sentencing him on May 11 to sixty days in prison. On May 2, 2019, he was sentenced by a court in Ukraine to 13 years in prison for his willing participation as a terrorist and propagandist in Russia's waging of aggressive war on Ukraine. Lusvarghi was released and handed over to Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic representatives on 29 December 2019. On 3 November 2021, a Brazilian court sentenced Lusvarghi to eight years in prison for his alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade.
Assédio is a Brazilian drama web television series produced by Rede Globo in association with O2 Filmes that premiered on the streaming service Globoplay on September 21, 2018. Based on the book “A Clínica – A Farsa e os Crimes de Roger Abdelmassih” by Vicente Vilardaga about the former Brazilian physician Roger Abdelmassih. The series is written by Maria Camargo and directed by Amora Mautner.
The Suzano Massacre, also known as the Suzano school attack, was a school shooting that took place on March 13, 2019, at the Professor Raul Brasil State School in the Brazilian municipality of Suzano, São Paulo State. The perpetrators, 17-year-old Guilherme Taucci Monteiro and 25-year-old Luiz Henrique de Castro, both former students at the school, killed five students and two school employees. Before the attack, in a car shop near the school, the pair also killed Monteiro's uncle. After the shooting, Monteiro killed his partner and then committed suicide.
Events in the year 2020 in Brazil.
Luis Carlos Heinze is a federal senator of Brazil representing his home state of Rio Grande do Sul. He was previously served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1999 to 2019 and was mayor of São Borja from 1993 to 1996.
The Maranhão child emasculations refers to a series of crimes that occurred in Paço do Lumiar, São José de Ribamar, Codó and São Luís, in the state of Maranhão, Brazil, which involved boys aged 4–15. They were kidnapped, maimed and killed between 1991 and 2003.
Eugênio Chipkevitch is a Ukrainian-born Brazilian former physician and psychotherapist, convicted of sexually abusing adolescent patients at the "Paulista Adolescents Institute" at São Paulo. He also recorded his assaults, which were found in a trash bin by a telephone technician, who reported the matter to authorities. He was arrested and sentenced to 114 years imprisonment for violent indecent assault and child grooming.
A long series of criminal investigations have occurred in Brazil associated with Operation Car Wash, since the first one began in March 2014. These investigations are considered offshoots of the original phased investigations.
A long series of criminal investigations have occurred in Brazil associated with Operation Car Wash. The first investigation was launched in March 2014, and is now known as phase 1 of the investigation, with subsequent inquiries numbered sequentially and having code names such as phase 2, phase 3, and so on. By February 2021, there were 80 announced phases of Operation Car Wash.
Douglas Baptista, known as The São Vicente Maniac, is a Brazilian serial killer who drowned at least eight children in the Baixada Santista metropolitan area from 1992 to 2003. Arrested and convicted for several of the crimes, he is currently serving a lengthy sentence.
José Nobre Guimarães is a Brazilian lawyer and politician, member of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil representing the state of Ceará and a member of the Workers' Party (PT).
The murder of Durval Teófilo Filho took place on the night of 2 February 2022 in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was shot by a neighbour as he arrived at the building where he lived, who he allegedly thought was a burglar.
The familicide in the Federal District in 2023, a case that became better known in the Brazilian press as the massacre in the DF, refers to the murder of 10 people from the same family between the end of December 2022 and mid-January 2023.
Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva is a Brazilian physicist, mechanical and nuclear engineer, vice admiral of the Brazilian Navy Naval Engineers and Technicians Corps. He had also served as president of state-owned company Eletronuclear.