Toffoli suspense jury of those accused of Nightclub Kiss set at the end of the month

Federal Supreme Court (STF) Minister Dias Toffoli accepted an appeal from the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul (MP-RS) and suspended a new trial of the Kiss Nightclub defendants. The jury was scheduled to take place on the 26th, in Porto Alegre. According to Toffoli, the decision was intended to avoid a “procedural tumult”.

“Holding the session could lead to a different result than the first trial, causing procedural turmoil, and it is not yet possible, for obvious reasons, to predict the outcome of the extraordinary appeal. This scenario allows us to conclude that decisions will be made in diametrically opposite directions , making the process even more time-consuming, traumatic and costly, due to possible incidents”, wrote Toffoli in the decision.

The Kiss Nightclub fire, which killed 242 people and injured more than 600, celebrated its 11th anniversary in January, and to date none of the accused has been arrested. The trial date of the 26th was set after the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) annulled the convictions of four people accused of the tragedy. With the suspension of the jury, the annulment remains.

The nightclub owner, Elissandro Callegaro Spohr, had been sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison, and his partner, Mauro Londero Hoffmann, to 19 years and six months. Two members of the band who played on the day of the fire also had their convictions suspended: vocalist Marcelo de Jesus dos Santos and music producer Luciano Bonilha. Both had been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

With Toffoli’s decision, the process is suspended until the Supreme Court judges the extraordinary appeals already presented.