03/24/2024 – 19:51
The defense of former minister Walter Braga Netto stated this Sunday, 24, that he signed in 2018 the promotion of police chief Rivaldo Barbosa to the position of head of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro only for “bureaucratic issues”. Barbosa is suspected by the Federal Police (PF) of having planned the murder of councilor Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes. At the time, Braga Netto was the head of federal intervention in public security in Rio.
“During the period of federal intervention in the area of public security in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in 2018, the Civil Police was directly subordinate to the Public Security Secretariat”, say, in a note, Braga Netto’s lawyers.
“The selection and nomination for appointments were made exclusively by the then Secretary of Public Security, as was the case in other departments subordinate to the Federal Intervention Office, such as Civil Defense and Penitentiary”, says another excerpt from the statement. The secretary was General Richard Nunes, appointed by Braga Netto.
The note is signed by lawyers Marcus Vinicius de Camargo Figueiredo and Luís Henrique César Prata. “For bureaucratic reasons, the administrative act was signed by the Federal Interventor who was, effectively, the governor in the area of public security in RJ”, says another excerpt.
Braga Netto was appointed as an intervenor in RJ's security by then president Michel Temer (MDB). Afterwards, he was Minister of Defense and the Civil House of the Bolsonaro government and ran for vice-president on the former president's defeated ticket for re-election in 2022.
In the final report on the Marielle case, the PF points out that Richard Nunes “bankrolled” Rivaldo's appointment, even though he had contrary recommendations.
“In turn, Braga Netto appointed General Richard Nunes as Secretary of State for Public Security, and he appointed Delegate Rivaldo Barbosa as his Chief of Police. At this point, the suspicions portrayed in the PICs mentioned above were already on the verge of arising, which even led to Rivaldo's contraindication by the Undersecretariat of Intelligence, as recognized by the General in his testimony”, says the PF report. “However, the General supported Rivaldo’s appointment despite what had been recommended.”
By order of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Operation Murder Inc. was launched this Sunday morning to preventively arrest, in addition to Rivaldo Barbosa, federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão (União-RJ) and his brother Domingos, counselor of the Court of Accounts of the State of Rio de Janeiro (TCE-RJ). The three are suspected of being the perpetrators of the crime. 12 search and seizure warrants were also issued in Rio.
The arrest of the suspects occurred after the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, announced the approval of the plea bargain of former military police officer Ronnie Lessa, identified as the person responsible for carrying out the murders, in March 2018. The case was federalized and became the responsibility of the STF after Lessa cited deputy Chiquinho Brazão, who has privileged jurisdiction. The rapporteur at the Court was Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
Lewandowski and the general director of the PF, Andrei Passos, said this Sunday, in a press conference, that the investigations show that the basic motivation for Marielle's murder was the fact that she opposed the group who ordered the crime, which wanted to regularize land for commercial purposes. The councilor defended the use of these properties for the construction of affordable housing.
“It does involve the issue linked to the militia, the dispute over territories, the regularization of projects, subdivisions,” said Passos. “If the real estate agenda was not central to the councilor’s mandate, it was an agenda she had, such as investment in social housing, which clashed with what the main group defended.”
#Braga #Netto #signed #promotion #police #officer #arrested #Marielle #case #bureaucracy