Judge Tiago Fernandes de Barros, from Rio de Janeiro’s 36th Criminal Court, acquitted seven people accused of involuntary manslaughter in the fire that killed ten teenagers and injured three at Ninho do Urubu, Flamengo’s training center — Brazil’s most popular football club — in February 2019.
In his ruling, the judge cited a “lack of legally relevant fault” and the impossibility of establishing a reliable causal link between the defendants’ actions and the outbreak of the fire that killed players from the club’s youth divisions.
Those acquitted are Márcio Garotti, Marcelo Maio de Sá, Claudia Pereira Rodrigues, Danilo Duarte, Weslley Gimenes, Fábio Hilário da Silva, and Edson Colman, who were linked to the management of the training center or to maintenance of the air-conditioning units.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office, which had sought the conviction of all seven after hearing 40 witnesses, argued that the fire could have been prevented. The indictment stated that the facility operated without a fire department permit, had already been fined and shut down, and presented electrical and structural flaws, as well as containers adapted with flammable materials and insufficient exits — conditions that would have hindered the teenagers’ escape.
The fire is believed to have started from a short circuit in an air-conditioning unit.
Eleven people were originally charged; four had already been excluded from the case, including the club’s former president, Eduardo Bandeira de Mello, 72, who benefited from the statute of limitations due to his age.
