Landouar Murder: Killer Gets 27 Years in Prison

The end of the sad and horrifying story of the murder of Gregor Landouar on the night of last year's record-breaking São Paulo gay pride parade has come. The perpetrator of one of the more notorious anti-gay murders in Brazil in recent years received a sentence of 27 years in prison (and since neither life sentences nor the death penalty are options in murder cases, this is probably the strongest sentence possible.)

It was a killing that sent a chill through the gay community living in and around the Jardins neighborhood, one which was initially denied as being a hate crime by the media and even gay leaders themselves. Landouar, a French tourist, was approached outside a high-profile gay hangout called Ritz by a group of "punks" shortly after the pride parade had ended a few blocks north on Avenida Paulista. Without warning or any provocation, Landouar was brutally stabbed and left on the sidewalk in front of horrified onlookers. He died of his wounds.

The São Paulo state police investigated the crime thoroughly and efficiently, and managed to nab the killer -- Genésio Mariuzzi Filho, then a 24 year-old member of the Devastação Punk gang who went by the nickname Anthrax. Genésio confessed that he had bought a knife from a supermarket in the neighborhood (Pão de Açucar on Brigadeiro Luis Antônio, highly patronized by gay residents), and that he and his gang walked through the neighborhood, witnessed gay Brazilians kissing in public and was "revolted", and that he would kill the first person he saw, which was Landouar.

Indeed, in today's coverage, Genésio continues with his immoral, unrepentant attitude. He told reporters that the killing was "silly" and that it was the first time he'd ever attacked anyone with a knife before:

"I had the bad luck that he (the victim) was French. It came out in the media. It was the only time I ever stabbed anyone. ... I'm not a psychopath. I'm not cold. I'm not calculating."

Perhaps not calculating, but clearly a sociopath, a cold-hearted criminal, and he's going to pay. And what's more, his astounding disconnect with what Brazilian society is willing to accept in terms of homophobia is the promising aspect of this. We all know a deep sense of homophobia permeates Brazilian culture, but for once the organs of societal justice -- from the cop on the beat all the way up to the judge in the courtroom -- fell squarely on the right side, almost as fiercely as Genésio fell on the side of evil. There was not a drop of let-up in finding, capturing, convicting and sentencing this monster for all of Brazil to see, as well as a broader crackdown on anti-gay gangs who threatened the area. The state and city governments deserve great credit for what they did, and what I hope they continue doing.

I'm very proud of my new adopted home country. And I walk proudly through Jardins as well. I also owe the police, the city government, and the neighborhood of Jardins an apology for my angry posts at the time, accusing all of them of insufficiently caring about this murder. I was wrong, and what's more, I was ignorant. There was much still for me to learn about my new home when this happened. And I am glad I was dead wrong.

Let this be a lesson -- much like the outrageous gay-baiting done by failed PT mayoral candidate Marta Suplicy, which led to a landslide defeat at the polls -- that there is an ever encroaching limit to what paulistanos will put up with on this score.

PHOTO: Members of Devastação Punk gang members on display after their February 2008 arrest by São Paulo police for their roles in anti-gay attacks in Jardins. (Anderson Prado/DISP)

BACKGROUND:

• Murder at Ritz (June 11, 2007)
  
• S. Paulo Newspapers Report Murder as Possible Hate Crime (June 12, 2007)
• Pride Parade Leader Laments Violence, Lack of Police Support (June 12, 2007)
• Landouar Murder: Eyewitness Gives Details to Newspaper (June 12, 2007)
• Another Murder on the Streets of Jardins (June 23, 2007)
• Jardins Attacks: Is It an Organized Murder Campaign? (June 24, 2007)
• Landouar Murder: "Punk" Under Arrest (August 3, 2007)
• Confirmed: Landouar Murder Was an Anti-Gay Murder Directly Linked to Gay Pride Parade (November 9, 2007)