Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Evangelical, Pentecostal, and independent São João de Meriti, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · 2013

Brazil: Assembleia de Deus dos Últimos Dias founding pastor convicted of raping a congregant; Supreme Federal Court cites his spiritual authority as the coercion

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

founding pastor, Assembleia de Deus dos Últimos Dias (ADUD)

Organization

Assembleia de Deus dos Últimos Dias (ADUD)

Spiritual nexus

Brazil's Supreme Federal Court itself found the operative coercion: Pereira da Silva, as founding pastor, used his spiritual leadership to convince the victim she was possessed by a demon, and it was that belief, not merely physical force, that the Court held made the crime unrefusable. This is a rare instance of a national high court naming the spiritual-authority mechanism directly in its own opinion.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Threatened spiritual consequence

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2013-09-01 · trial and sentencing

    2nd Criminal Court of São João de Meriti, Rio de Janeiro. Marcos Pereira da Silva, founder of the Assembleia de Deus dos Últimos Dias, was convicted of raping a congregant of his church on the church premises in late 2006 and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in closed regime. He was investigated for abuse of at least six followers; the single count tried resulted in conviction.

  2. 2018-02-27 · habeas corpus denied; conviction's custodial effect restored

    Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF), 1st Panel. Having been free since a December 2014 habeas corpus injunction, Pereira da Silva had that injunction overturned by the STF's First Panel (2-1) applying Súmula 608 (rape by actual violence is publicly, unconditionally actionable). Justice Alexandre de Moraes's opinion found the pastor exercised psychological violence by using his spiritual leadership to make the victim believe she was possessed by a demon, in addition to physical violence.

Appellate history

  1. 2018-02-27

    The STF's First Panel voted 2-1 to overturn a lower injunction that had kept Pereira da Silva free, restoring his imprisonment on the 2013 rape conviction. Justice Alexandre de Moraes's opinion held that, beyond physical violence, the pastor exercised psychological violence by using his spiritual leadership to frighten the victim into believing she was demon-possessed.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • pastoral access to a congregant on church premises
  • psychological coercion via claimed spiritual authority, made the victim believe she was demon-possessed (STF finding)

Primary record

Sources

national press sentencing report Gazeta do Povo, 'Pastor Marcos é condenado a 15 anos de prisão por estupro de fiel' (2013).

Reports the 2nd Criminal Court of São João de Meriti's conviction and 15-year closed-regime sentence of Assembleia de Deus dos Últimos Dias founder Marcos Pereira da Silva for the 2006 rape of a follower on church premises, and that witnesses described him as manipulative and cold, using people's good faith to deceive them.

high court record appellate opinion summary Supremo Tribunal Federal, 'STF nega HC a pastor condenado por estupro' notícias.STF.jus.br (27 Feb. 2018), and Notícias Gospel, 'Supremo cassa liminar e pastor Marcos Pereira será preso novamente no caso de estupro' (2018).

Official STF press item and independent press confirmation that the First Panel voted 2-1 on 27 February 2018 to overturn the habeas corpus injunction that had freed Pereira da Silva, restoring the custodial effect of his rape conviction; Justice Alexandre de Moraes's opinion is quoted holding that beyond physical violence, the pastor used his spiritual leadership to frighten the victim and make her believe she was possessed by a demon, applying STF Súmula 608 on unconditional public criminal action for rape by actual violence.

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