Diego Mosca Lorena de Souza and Bruno Paulossi Portieri, the pair of attackers of law student André Baliera, were transferred from the prison of the 91st DP in São Paulo to the Osasco Provisional Detention Center. The two were charged with attempted murder.
Furthermore, the São Paulo Department of Justice and Citizenship reported that it will also prosecute the accused, based on São Paulo's anti-homophobia law. Portieri and Souza will be prosecuted at the administrative level and may be sentenced to pay a fine ranging from R$18 to R$54.
Joel Cordaro, the defendants' lawyer, said that the attack had nothing to do with homophobia. "There is absolutely no homophobia. There is no way of knowing the sexual orientation (sic) of someone who is crossing the street," said Cordaro.
The lawyer also said that the victim is acting like a “poor thing”. "In the victim's own statement, he says that after they broke his headphones, he broke the glasses of one of my clients. He is saying that he didn't do anything, which is poor thing, but if he didn't want to fight, he would have turned his back and walked away. He wanted to cause trouble", declared the lawyer.
Cordaro filed a request for provisional release and relaxation of the arrest, as the detainees are primary, have permanent residences and work. "I'm not saying they're right, they did attack. But there is no crime of homophobia," said the lawyer.
Answer
André, in an interview with the newspaper "Estado de São Paulo", declared that he thought he was going to die when he started being beaten. After the attackers' lawyer's statements, the student posted a video on YouTube telling his version of the story and defended himself.
"In the face of an attempted murder, in the face of the lies that I have read about me from the lawyer on the other side, in the face of the solidarity of the people who contacted me and in a sincere apology for the absence in these horrible days that I have been experiencing, I made this video to reach as many people as possible and ask for justice", said the law student.
Protest
The #EuSouGay project is organizing a protest at the same location as the attack next Saturday (8), at 15pm, at the intersection of Avenida Henrique Schaumann and Rua Teodoro Sampaio.
The event was called #Churrascão das Cabras, in an allusion to the homophobic text by JR Guzzo published by Veja magazine, which compared gays to goats. More than 600 people have already confirmed their presence on Facebook.
"(…) nothing compares to the pain of those who suffer the violence of intolerance and hatred. A hatred that, it is worth remembering, is not born with anyone. It is a hatred taught, sometimes by a close person, sometimes by a weekly magazine... Therefore, here is a general call for those who have love in their hearts: Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transsexuals, Heterosexuals, Pansexuals and GOATsexuals, it's time to make this barbecue hate", says the event page.
Below you can see André's video.
