“Onde está a justiça?”: as dificuldades da participação diante do Poder Judiciário no caso da Bacia do Rio Doce

Abstract

This monograph aims to explain the low effectiveness in repairing damages resulting from the collapse of the Fundão dam, in Mariana/MG, on November 5, 2015, with an emphasis on the role of the Judiciary. The main argument is that the Judiciary's disregard for the active participation of people affected in the reparation process explains such ineffectiveness, according to the analysis of some decisions on relevant topics within the scope of public civil actions that deal with the aforementioned disaster. Based on the theoretical framework of Edilson Vitorelli and José Ourismar Barros (2022), in reference to the bibliographical review, the analysis of judicial decisions and extrajudicial agreements, documents from technical entities and public reports from people affected by the tragedy throughout the Doce river basin, some of the foundations for the participation of affected people in the decision-making process on full reparation of damages were considered, in addition to two important elements for its practical implementation: access to information and independent technical advice. Finally, as a case study, the foundations of some judicial decisions on the case were analyzed, more specifically (i) the sentence ratifying the Addendum to the TAP and the TAC Governance, (ii) the decision that rejected the intervention of the Rio Doce Research Network in the process as amicus curiae and (iii) the set of decisions relating to the methodology to be adopted for the purposes of assessing risk to human health.