Pernambuco ordered to pay R$ 150,000 to young man imprisoned by mistake for nine months
Anderson Gabriel da Silva was detained by mistake in January 2025 and remained imprisoned for nine months at Cotel. The TJPE ordered compensation of R$ 150,000 to the state of Pernambuco.
State pays R$ 150,000 for wrongful imprisonment of young man confused with namesake
The state of Pernambuco was ordered to compensate Anderson Gabriel da Silva, 25 years old, with R$ 150,000 for moral damages, after the young man remained imprisoned by mistake for nine months. According to oglobo.globo.com, the sentence was signed on 28 August by judge Flávia Fabiane Nascimento Figueira, of the Office of the Process Acceleration Centre of the Court of Justice of Pernambuco (TJPE).
Anderson was detained on 11 January 2025 during a police approach near Praia de Boa Viagem in Recife. Military police were executing a preventive detention warrant issued by the criminal division of Goiana, in the Mata zone of Pernambuco, related to a homicide that occurred in 2023.
"I explained that I was innocent, but the delegate did not want to listen. I went to Cotel, I waited for a while, then I went up to the ward," Anderson declared to g1, shortly after his release.
Confusion with Paraiba namesake
The young man, a resident of Jaboatão dos Guararapes, was confused with the actual perpetrator of the crime, a native of Paraíba, who has the same full name: Anderson Gabriel da Silva. The mothers of both are named Ana Paula da Silva, and neither birth certificate carries the father's name — a circumstance that, according to the sentence, contributed to the succession of errors.
"I never committed any homicide crime. I explained to the delegate that it was not me who killed that person, that I had nothing to do with it. He said: 'Your name is not Anderson Gabriel da Silva? Is your mother's name not Ana Paula? Then it must be you'," Anderson reported after regaining his freedom.
Accumulated failures over two years
The TJPE sentence details the chronology of state failures. The arrest warrant was issued by mistake in Anderson's name shortly after the crime in 2023. During the investigation, the investigation identified the Paraiba namesake, and a second warrant was issued against the actual suspect, who ended up imprisoned in June 2024.
The first warrant, however, was not cancelled and remained linked to Anderson's CPF. In April 2024, the defence of the actual investigated party had already attached to the case a fingerprint report proving the divergence between the fingerprints. In May that year, the Public Ministry of Pernambuco acknowledged the identification error and requested Anderson's exclusion from the indictment. In September, the judge of the criminal division of Goiana confirmed the mistake and ordered the warrant to be struck from the National Arrest Monitoring Bank (BNMP).
The determination was not carried out "due to an inexcusable cartoryal failure", as recorded in the sentence. In January 2025, a certificate wrongly maintained the warrant data linked to Anderson's CPF, resulting in his arrest the following day. He remained detained at Cotel in Abreu e Lima until October 2025, when the Public Defender's Office obtained the release of his imprisonment.
State attempts to mitigate responsibility without success
In the action, the state of Pernambuco argued that the error was of an isolated nature, without representing a systemic failure, and that responsibility should be mitigated because the arrest was executed by determination of another federal entity. The judge rejected the argument and attributed the maintenance of the warrant to a failure by the state itself.
Anderson's lawyers had requested compensation of R$ 500,000. The judge set the amount at R$ 150,000 to remedy "the gross failure" and "to compensate the victim for suffering and to discourage the reiteration of negligent conduct by the state". The decision may still be appealed.
Sequelae after release
After leaving Cotel, Anderson described difficulties in resuming his routine.
"I still cannot even sleep properly, because it affected my psychology a lot. In that place it is very cold. There are many people with tuberculosis there, overcrowded bathrooms. There are also many people in a situation similar to mine. There are many innocent people," he said.
Source: Google News BR — Crime