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Brazil Court Upholds Six-Year Sentence for Juan Darthés in Thelma Fardin Abuse Case

The ruling ends Brazil’s appeals phase, triggering a semi-open term with daytime release and nightly custody.

Overview

  • The Tribunal Regional Federal da 3ª Região, which rejected the defense’s last appeals Tuesday, left the six-year sentence intact under a semi-open regime.
  • The semi-open system lets a person work or study outside by day and requires a return to prison to sleep each night under Brazil’s penal rules.
  • Judges credited Fardin’s consistent account, backed by witnesses and expert reports, and highlighted the physical, psychological, and power imbalance noted by Judge André Custodio Nekatschalow.
  • The case stems from a 2009 incident in Nicaragua during a Patito Feo tour when Fardin was 16 and Darthés 45, moved forward after a 2018 complaint, reversed a 2023 acquittal in June 2024, and relied on cooperation among prosecutors from Nicaragua, Brazil, and Argentina.
  • Fardin posted “We won again” after the decision, and Amnesty International Argentina called it a decisive step that reinforces judging sexual violence with a gender perspective.