Former Doctor Roger Abdelmassih Will Serve Out Sentence Under House Arrest

06/22/2017 - 09h24

Former physician Roger Abdelmassih, 73, sentenced to 181 years in prison for sexually abusing patients in his reproductive clinic, was awarded the right to serve out his sentence under house arrest.

The decision was handed down by Judge Sueli Vaik, from the First District of Criminal Proceedings in Taubaté, in the São Paulo countryside. The Physician has been serving his sentence in a penitentiary in the city of Tremembé since the end of 2014.

Abdelmassih has been hospitalized for pneumonia and has been receiving treatment for more than a month at the São Lucas Hospital in Taubaté. The former doctor had already been interned several times for heart trouble since he was incarcerated.

The illness has been cited as justification for his defense to request, since the end of last year, for a humanitarian pardon, due to the inability of inmates to receive treatment in prison.

One of Abdelmassih's victims, Vanuzia Lopes Leite, said that she is greatly saddened by the decision. She even sent a letter to the judge making an appeal, in the name of his victims, against the humanitarian pardon being granted.

Abdelmassih will likely serve out his house arrest in a luxurious apartment of 272 m2 in the Jardim Paulistano neighborhood, where his wife, prosecutor Larissa Sacco Abdelmassih and his children are living. The apartment's value is estimated at more than R$ 4 million (US$ 1.2 million).

Translated by LLOYD HARDER

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	Ernesto Rodrigues/Folhapress
	Former doctor Roger Abdelmassih will serve out his sentence under house arrest