Six-Hour Hearing Opens Trial of Santo Daime Leader on Sexual Violation Charges

Overview

• Judge Renata Travassos Medina de Macedo presided over more than six hours of testimony at the 11th Criminal Court in Rio.
• Paulo Roberto Silva e Souza, 76, is charged with sexual violation by fraud and psychological violence against his former assistant, attorney Jéssica Nascimento de Sousa.
• The court kept the accuser and the defendant in separate areas, protesters gathered outside the forum, and security controlled access to the hearing room.
• Witnesses included three for the accuser—among them former partner Paulo Coutinho and former women’s coordinator Isabela de Lima—and five for the defense, including one of the defendant’s daughters.
• Previous requests for his preventive detention were denied, but he remains suspended from his church, has surrendered his passport, is barred from leaving Brazil, and faces additional complaints as the defense recently sought a delay citing witness exposure risks.