Ten Years Later: Mariana Disaster Still Has No Convictions and Exposes Impunity in Brazil — Understand What Held Everything Back

Written by Sara Aquino

Published on 06/11/2025 at 13:49

Fonte: IA

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Mariana Accident Marks Ten Years Without Convictions. Understand Why Impunity Won and How Environmental Legislation in Brazil Was Decisive.

Mariana Accident Completes 10 Years Without Convictions and Rekindles Debate on Impunity and Environmental Legislation in Brazil

Ten years after the Mariana accident, no one has been convicted.
The episode that devastated Minas Gerais remains unpunished, even after years of processes and debates.

On November 14, 2024, the Federal Regional Court of the 6th Region, in Ponte Nova, acquitted the mining companies Samarco, Vale, and BHP.
The decision ended, at least for now, a decade of legal disputes.

The rupture of the Fundão Dam in 2015 released over 40 million cubic meters of waste into the Doce River.
The disaster killed 19 people and destroyed entire communities.
Still, the criminal case ended without convictions.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Understand How Justice Came to Acquittal

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office accused the defendants of qualified homicide and bodily injury.
However, the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region overturned these charges in 2019.

In 2024, the new trial reinforced this understanding.
The court stated that there was no evidence of a causal link between the companies’ actions and the dam collapse.
This led the judges to dismiss any criminal responsibility of the mining companies.

The criminal lawyer Paulo Crosara explained the reason for the decision:

“The federal judge concluded that not even the crimes of collapse or environmental crimes occurred. She stated that there is no causal link between the defendants’ actions and the results.”

According to Crosara, a key witness — the designer of the dam — allegedly received improper guidance from someone in the Public Prosecutor’s Office to declare that he warned management about the risk of the dam collapsing.
However, the court understood that the alert never occurred, which completely weakened the prosecution’s case.

“It seems to me that this, in plain Portuguese, undermined the accusatory thesis,” Crosara stated.

Impunity and Disbelief in the System

For the Justice system, the accident was not directly caused by the mining companies.
In practice, this means that there was no crime, despite the social and environmental impact.

“We can say that Justice concluded that no crime occurred, despite the disaster,” Crosara emphasized.

This outcome fuels the feeling of impunity and disbelief in the Brazilian legal system.
Residents and environmentalists claim that the lack of punishment undermines trust in institutions.

Many affected individuals are still awaiting reparations and concrete actions.
Meanwhile, the case becomes a symbol of slowness and failures in Environmental Legislation.

What Changes for the Future of Environmental Legislation in Brazil

The case raises an unavoidable question: Can Brazil hold large corporations accountable for environmental damage?
The answer, according to experts, remains uncertain — and concerning.

This is because the Brazilian legal system remains slow and, in many cases, vulnerable to economic and political pressures.
Furthermore, existing loopholes in the environmental legislation make the path to conviction even more difficult.

On the other hand, there is growing social and institutional pressure for structural changes.
Thus, legal experts and environmentalists advocate for the creation of new rules capable of ensuring faster trials and truly effective decisions.

While these reforms are not forthcoming, the Mariana episode continues to symbolize the chasm between destruction and punishment.
For many Brazilians, each new delay reinforces the idea that, in disasters of this magnitude, impunity still prevails.

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Ten Years Later: Mariana Disaster Still Has No Convictions and Exposes Impunity in Brazil — Understand What Held Everything Back

Mariana Accident Marks Ten Years Without Convictions. Understand Why Impunity Won and How Environmental Legislation in Brazil Was Decisive.

Mariana Accident Completes 10 Years Without Convictions and Rekindles Debate on Impunity and Environmental Legislation in Brazil

Understand How Justice Came to Acquittal

Impunity and Disbelief in the System

What Changes for the Future of Environmental Legislation in Brazil

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Ten Years Later: Mariana Disaster Still Has No Convictions and Exposes Impunity in Brazil — Understand What Held Everything Back

Mariana Accident Marks Ten Years Without Convictions. Understand Why Impunity Won and How Environmental Legislation in Brazil Was Decisive.

Mariana Accident Completes 10 Years Without Convictions and Rekindles Debate on Impunity and Environmental Legislation in Brazil

Understand How Justice Came to Acquittal

Impunity and Disbelief in the System

What Changes for the Future of Environmental Legislation in Brazil

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BRICS is preparing a payment system inspired by the Brazilian PIX that will allow direct transactions between countries using national digital currencies without relying on the dollar or Western banks as intermediaries.

The oldest tree in the world, alive since before the birth of Jesus Christ, is cut down in a scientific study and the case changes environmental preservation rules.

An entire island in the Pacific wants to surround itself with a colossal barrier against the ocean to try to escape increasingly violent waves and not be swallowed by the sea in the coming decades.

After ten days orbiting the Moon, science confirms that the astronauts of the Artemis II mission return with altered bodies.

In the Saudi Arabian desert, the world’s largest green hydrogen plant is 80% complete and will use 4 gigawatts of solar and wind energy to produce 600 tons of clean fuel per day when it opens in 2027.

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