Those arrested for the Kiss nightclub fire will be released.
A court in Rio Grande do Sul granted provisional release to the four people arrested for involvement in the Kiss nightclub fire in Santa Maria, which killed 242 people; partners Elissandro Spohr and Mauro Hoffmann, and two members of the band Gurizada Fandagueira, singer Marcelo dos Santos and producer Luciano Bonilha Leão, should be released by the end of Wednesday.
RS247 - The Rio Grande do Sul court decided this afternoon to grant provisional release to the four people arrested for involvement in the Kiss nightclub fire in Santa Maria, which killed 242 people. Partners Elissandro Spohr and Mauro Hoffmann, and two members of the band Gurizada Fandagueira, singer Marcelo dos Santos and producer Luciano Bonilha Leão, will be released.
The four people detained since the tragedy are expected to be released by the end of Wednesday. Outraged, family members who traveled from Santa Maria to attend the hearing in Porto Alegre protested on Avenida Borges de Medeiros. "I no longer believe in the justice system in Brazil," lamented Adherbal Alves Ferreira, president of the Association of Families of Victims and Survivors of the Santa Maria Tragedy.
The decision to grant provisional release was unanimous among the judges of the 1st Criminal Chamber of the Rio Grande do Sul Court of Justice. By a vote of three to zero, they ruled that the four defendants do not represent a risk to the process or to the victims. The four investigated individuals are accused of aggravated intentional homicide and 636 attempted homicides in the case of the fire on January 27th.