How did the fire start?
Around three in the morning on January 27, 2013, the lead singer of the band Gurizada Fandangueira, Marcelo de Jesus dos Santos, lit a pyrotechnic object inside the club. The foam on the ceiling was hit by sparks and began to burn. The toxic smoke made people faint within seconds. The place was overcrowded, there was no equipment to fight the fire, nor enough emergency exits. People died who were unable to leave and others who had left but returned to help.
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Who was accused and held responsible for the tragedy?
The partners of Kiss club, Elissandro Callegaro Spohr and Mauro Londero Hoffmann, the lead singer of Banda Gurizada Fandangueira, Marcelo de Jesus dos Santos, and the music producer Luciano Bonilha Leão were sentenced on December 10, 2021. The sentences were as follows:
- Elissandro Callegaro Spohr: 22 years and 6 months in prison;
- Mauro Londero Hoffmann: 19 years and 6 months in prison;
- Marcelo de Jesus dos Santos: 18 years in prison;
- Luciano Bonilha Leão: 18 years in prison.
However, in August 2022, the sentence that convicted the four defendants was annulled by the Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Sul. The Court accepted the arguments of the defendants' lawyers, who claimed nullities in the process. The choice of jurors, statements from the audience at the trial and the judge's conduct, considered biased by the defense, were the reasons that justified the annulment.
The accused were released and await a new jury, with no date set yet. Ten years after the tragedy, no one has been held responsible for the deaths at Kiss Nightclub. (Curto News)
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What effects did the tragedy have on legislation?
In the same year as the tragedy, in December 2013, the Legislative Assembly approved the Kiss Law, with fire prevention and fighting standards for all properties not considered as single-family, exclusively residential properties.
With the Kiss Law, buildings began to be classified as low, medium or high risk of flames. From there, the requirements were established. The standard now considers area and height, as it was before, but also occupancy, maximum capacity, smoke control capacity, among other items. After meeting the requirements, the properties received a permit from the fire department.
However, in recent years, the Kiss Law underwent a series of flexibilities. The validity period of the Fire Prevention and Protection Permit (APPCI), previously from one to three years, was extended to be valid from five to two years, for example. The author of the project Kiss Law believes that the standard, as it currently stands, is fragile to carry out prevention in the necessary dimension and scope. (G1)
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The pain of impunity reproduced in streaming
10 years since the tragedy in Kiss club were the subject of two streaming productions.
- 'Every Day the Same Night' is a production of Netflix based on the book-report by journalist Daniela Arbex. The miniseries has five chapters.
- 'Nightclub Kiss – The Tragedy of Santa Maria' is a documentary series from balloon play with five episodes. In the production, reporter Marcelo Canellas follows family members and survivors during the years following the tragedy.
On Instagram, the lawyer Jader Marques, who defends Elissandro Callegaro Spohr (partner at Kiss), published several videos commenting on Netflix and Globoplay productions:
