Overview
- Passengers on a Maria Fumaça tourist train say Eduardo Ignacio Murias photographed a 7‑year‑old and sent WhatsApp messages with racist references on Sunday May 24, leading the boy’s mother to confront him and police to detain him.
- A judge converted the initial arrest into preventive detention, and investigators ordered a full forensic examination of Murias’s phone to recover deleted files and identify recipients of the messages.
- Murias’s lawyers say he is remorseful, argue the chats were private, and have filed a habeas corpus contesting how the phone evidence was obtained and its admissibility under Brazilian precedent on device privacy.
- The defense also alleges Murias was attacked in the São João del‑Rei jail, has sought urgent excarceration or protective measures, and engaged the Argentine consulate to raise safety concerns.
- The victim’s lawyer says police closed the investigative phase after finding authorial and material proof and plans a civil suit for moral and psychological damages while prosecutors continue the criminal case under Brazil’s anti‑racism statutes.