The Brazilian church empire leader — and a celebrity superstar — has been ousted from congress over her alleged role in her husband’s “barbaric” murder.
The Brazilian lawmakers voted to strip Flordelis dos Santos de Souza of her mandate as a result of her conduct that they deemed “incompatible with parliamentary decorum.”
Ms De Souza, the gospel-singing evangelical church leader-turned-politician was accused of masterminding her 42-year-old husband, Anderson do Carmo’s murder in August 2020. She was accused of having tried at least six times to kill him with poison or staged robberies.
Anderson do Carmo was shot dead in June 2019 as he was returning from church.
The 60-year-old Ms De Souza raised more than 50 children together with her husband; at least 46 of them were adopted. She claimed that by adopting them she was saving them from lives of deprivation and violence. However, she was later also accused of adopting the children without following the proper legal procedures.
Born in one of Rio de Janeiro’s most violent favelas, Jacarezinho, Ms De Souza was elected to Congress in 2018.
On Wednesday when the verdict was read, she covered her face with her right hand and begged for mercy. Her expulsion from congress means that she can now be arrested as she no longer has parliamentary immunity.
Last year, five of her children and one granddaughter were arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder.
When her husband was murdered, Ms De Souza had claimed that her husband was a victim of a bungled robbery. By August 2020, she was formally accused of masterminding his “barbaric” murder.
Allan Duarte, who is heading up the murder investigation had earlier this year told The Guardian that he believed that Ms De Souza was the head of “an intra-family criminal organisation” set up solely to kill Do Carmo.
He was quoted as saying: “She’s cold. She’s calculating. She’s sly … I consider Flordelis a psychopath.”
But the evangelical leader has maintained that she is innocent. On Wednesday, she told reporters that “I have committed no crime.”
In one of her interviews earlier, she had also said: “Give me one reason – just one – why I would kill my husband? He was more than just my husband, he was my friend.”
Meanwhile, the head of the murder investigation, Mr Duarte told the media that “I will only be fully satisfied when she is convicted, jailed and pays for the crime she committed.”
