Rio de Janeiro Court Denies Compensation to Wrongfully Convicted Boxer Silvio Pantera

The 7th Chamber of Public Law of the Tribunal de Justiça do Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ) voted 3‑2 to reject a claim for moral damages filed by former boxer Silvio José da Silva, known as Pantera. He spent nearly six years in prison for a 2015 robbery he did not commit. In 2021 the Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) overturned his conviction, finding the photographic identification illegal and that the victim had been induced by police to identify him. Rapporteur Justice Marco Antônio Ibrahim described the wrongful conviction as a “normal risk” of judicial activity, stating “we err every day.” Two judges dissented, labeling the police conduct arbitrary. Pantera now works as a delivery‑app driver and teaches boxing to children in Rio’s western neighborhoods. The Rio state government said that merely annulling the conviction does not constitute a compensable judicial error, and the public prosecutor declined to comment.