“Dude, what happened, happened,” he said in an interview (via the Guardian). “I made a mistake, a serious one, but mistakes happen in life. I’m not a bad guy. People tried to bury my dream because of one mistake, but I asked God for forgiveness, so I’m carrying on with my career, dude.”

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Several sponsors withdrew support and feminist groups protested amid growing awareness and rejection of femicide and rape in Brazil, where, to mark International Women’s Day recently, the Cruzeiro soccer team wore shirts with messages such as “a rape every 11 minutes” and “salaries 30 percent lower.”

“Women and the general public are outraged,” said Djamila Ribiero, a feminist activist (via UOL). “It is as if he had gone unpunished.”

On social media, reaction was negative. Twitter user Celio Ramirez was typical, writing: “It’s amazing that the mastermind of a murder be hired in football as soon as he gets out of jail and another fights a lifetime for a job.”

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A victims group posted a change.org petition protesting his hiring, writing of “our total disgust that a symbol of DEATH Wear a sports shirt.” It has nearly 35,000 signatures.

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But Rone Moraes da Costa, the president of Boa Esporte, defended the decision, saying in a statement on the club’s official Facebook page that the law had been fulfilled and it “is not committing any crime according to the Brazilian legislation and before the law of God.” And he told the Guardian, “If this city doesn’t like it, I move us to another city. Bruno deserves this chance.”

Bruno, 32, is a former goalie for first-division Flamengo. In 2010, he was convicted of ordering the killing of Eliza Samudio, a model who was his former partner and the mother of his son. After a highly publicized lawsuit for child support, she went missing and he confessed to his involvement (via the Guardian). He allegedly conspired with six others (including his lover and ex-wife) who tortured, strangled and dismembered Samudio, then fed her body, which has never been found, to Bruno’s Rottweilers. His ex-wife was acquitted of kidnapping the child.

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“This is a barbaric crime,” former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said (via the Guardian) in 2010. “The whole of Brazil is disgusted by such a barbaric and perverse crime.”