Portuguese police have arrested Djalma Junior and Marluci Bellini, a Brazilian couple wanted for torturing 24 patients at a rehabilitation center in Ribeirão Preto. The two fugitives spent 12 years living in Portugal without raising suspicion before their detention last week.
The Judicial Police, Portugal's national criminal investigation agency, formalised the arrests at the request of Brazilian authorities after the couple was placed on Interpol's wanted list. In June, a court in Brazil sentenced Junior, 56, and Bellini, 49, to 17 and a half years in prison for severe crimes committed against patients at the treatment facility. Both suspects are being held in preventive custody in Portugal while awaiting extradition.
According to prosecutors and victim statements, 24 patients at the rehabilitation center in Ribeirão Preto, a city in the state of São Paulo, endured systematic abuse and torture. Victims were punched, beaten with wooden sticks, and sexually assaulted using instruments. The couple also bound patients and threw them into storage rooms with wet, soapy floors.
Patients were forced to ingest controlled medications without medical prescriptions. Prosecutors also detailed severe psychological punishments, including forcing patients to sit and stare at trees for hours without moving. Guards violently woke anyone who fell asleep. Prosecutors stated that Junior and Bellini monitored the victims constantly through surveillance cameras 24 hours a day.
Escape to Portugal and public roles
Following a Brazilian police operation targeting the rehabilitation facility in 2014, Junior fled to Portugal to evade arrest. Settling in Alcabideche, a parish in the municipality of Cascais near Lisbon, he worked as a school psychologist. Junior joined the Order of Psychologists, the professional association governing psychologists in Portugal. He authored several books offering guidance to parents of teenagers, delivered lectures on school bullying prevention, and practiced martial arts. Parents of students appreciated his personality and had no knowledge of his criminal past.
Bellini, a lawyer by training, relocated to Nordeste, a town on the island of São Miguel in the Azores archipelago. She worked as a Zumba fitness instructor, attracting a large following of students to her packed classes. Although the couple separated in 2017, they remained in contact until their arrest. Their two daughters lived with Bellini in the Azores.
Related arrests and extradition status
Two other individuals associated with the facility were also detained by law enforcement. Junior's nephew initially escaped to Portugal alongside the couple but later returned to Brazil, where authorities arrested him prior to the detention of his aunt and uncle. A female doctor was also arrested in connection with the crimes, and all four individuals received heavy prison sentences from Brazilian courts.
The arrests came as a surprise to members of the local communities in Cascais and the Azores who knew the couple. Contacted by Brazilian news media outlets, legal representatives for Junior and Bellini did not state whether they intend to file an appeal against the extradition request. Interpol, the international police organization headquartered in France, coordinates international wanted notices to assist member countries in locating and arresting fugitives across borders.
