It was intended as a raucous, beer-soaked celebration of the start of the latest series of one of Brazil's most popular TV programmes.
Fuelled by alcohol and accompanied by live music from one of Rio de Janeiro's top samba schools, this was the opening party for the 12th season of Big Brother Brazil, the Endemol-produced reality show.
But police in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday confirmed they were investigating a suspected rape that allegedly took place in Rio's Big Brother House after the party last Saturday.
According to reports in Rio's O Dia newspaper, a team of police officers went to the TV studio where the programme is filmed to question the alleged suspect, Daniel Echaniz, a 31-year-old model, and victim, 23-year-old Monique Amin.
A seven-minute video of the alleged rape – shot by the Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo using a night vision camera – has subsequently been posted on YouTube, although the channel has taken steps to remove it, claiming copyright violation.
"We already have the video and we will analyse the images," police chief Antônio Ricardo said. "The fact is serious and needs to be investigated."
The alleged rape of Amin, a student from Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, triggered outrage on social media and among women's rights activists and celebrities.
On Monday, Brazil's minister for women's policies, Iriny Lopes, asked Rio's public prosecutor to accompany the case.
But speaking on the programme on Sunday, Amin claimed she could not remember the incident. "We kissed, I remember one kiss, he said there were two. We touched each other and really this is all I remember," she said.
"Sex?" she added. "No. Only if he was a real scumbag and did it while I was sleeping."
On Sunday Echaniz was expelled from the programme by Globo executives. In a statement, the show's host, Pedro Bial, said: "Big Brother has examined Daniel's behaviour without jumping the gun and with the utmost care. We have analysed the images which show an infraction of the programme's rules.
"The programme's directors believe that the contestant's behaviour on the night of the party was seriously inadequate."
In an interview with the Brazilian media, Big Brother's director, José Bonifácio Brasil de Oliveira, denied there had been a rape but admitted Echaniz had "overstepped the mark".
That did little to dampen calls for a police investigation.
Speaking to Brazil's Veja news magazine, Geórgia Bello, a legal representative of the Commission for the Defence of Women's Rights at Rio's state parliament, said: "The girl was visibly inebriated … and in a vulnerable state. Of course this is rape."
"From his movements in the images, you can see that his hips are touching the young lady. She was not awake and this may characterise rape," Bello said.
On Tuesday morning Echaniz used his Twitter account to defend himself. "People, If something happened this is my problem and no one else's. FULL STOP."
Later that day Echaniz – who has just 575 followers — revisited the subject.
"Mum I am calm," he wrote. "Justice will be done. You don't need to get upset. I love you a lot."
TV Globo did not immediately respond to requests for a comment. On the programme's official website, the controversy was relegated to a footnote about Echaniz's premature expulsion.
No comments:
Post a Comment