Guilherme Franco Netto was released on Sunday, August 9, in Rio de Janeiro by decision of the Supreme Court (STF) minister Gilmar Mendes. Sign the petition campaign in support and solidarity to the researcher.

We would like to express our grave consternation and apprehension about the arrest, on this Thursday, August 6, of Fiocruz researcher Guilherme Franco Netto, coordinator of the ABRASCO Work Group on Health and the Environment. This arrest, whose grounds have yet to be clarified, came as the result of a coordinated action by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministério Público Federal) and the Federal Police, as part of an operation investigating misappropriation of resources involving public agencies in the health field.

Guilherme Franco Netto has a long career rendering public services to the country and is an eminent scholar in the field of public health both in Brazil and internationally. He received his medical degree from the Universidade Federal Fluminense and his doctorate in epidemiology from Tulane University, in the United States. From 2007 to 2013, he served as director of the Department of Environmental Health and Health Inspection, within the Ministry of Health. ABRASCO and CEBES recognize his vast knowledge. His work in the fields of public health and environmental health is highly respected by his peers not only at Fiocruz but within the Brazilian and international scientific community.
We demand transparency and the immediate clarification of the reasons leading to this extreme measure. Furthermore, we would like to underscore the importance of the presumption of innocence. We call on Brazilian society, the academic community, professionals in the health field, and the press that is committed to truth, democracy, and justice to pay particularly close attention to what has happened. It is also vital that we follow these events as they unfold, in a resolute quest for justice. We cannot allow precipitous accusations and conclusions to tarnish the honor of institutions and persons committed to the country.

Rio de Janeiro, August 6, 2020

Brazilian Collective Health Association (Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva – ABRASCO)
Brazilian Center for Health Studies (Centro Brasileiro de Estudos de Saúde – Cebes)