“It was peaceful”, says Valdemar upon leaving the PF after his arrest

The president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, left the Federal Police Superintendence, in Brasília, on Saturday night (Feb 10, 2024), where he had been detained since Thursday (Feb 8). When asked by journalists about what it was like staying there, he said: “It went well. It was quiet”.

Valdemar was also asked about the sentence of STF (Supreme Federal Court) minister Alexandre de Moraes, who decided to accept the opinion of the Attorney General's Office in favor of parole due to the politician's age, which is 74 years old. The party leader said he would not comment on the issue and attributed the attitude to his lawyer, Marcelo Bessa.

“Marcelo Bessa doesn’t want me to talk”, he declared. Valdemar also stated that he decided to leave the PF Superintendence through the main exit to “say good night” to journalists.

Watch (2min02s):

Here is an excerpt from Moraes' justification for deciding to release Valdemar Costa Neto:

“Despite the requirements for preventive detention being present, some specific circumstances must be analyzed, since the person under investigation is elderly, aged 74 (seventy-four) years old, and would not have committed the crimes with violence or serious threat, having been the objects found inside his residence, when executing a search and seizure warrant.”, stated the minister. Here's the complete of the decision (PDF – 196 kB).

Valdemar was one of the targets of operation Tempus Veritatis (read more below), which investigates an alleged coup attempt in 2022. The president of the PL, however, was arrested for illegal possession of weapons.

In addition to the weapon, the PF seized a gold nugget from the PL president. In a note, the lawyers said that the nugget “does not constitute a crime according to the jurisprudence itself” is that “the weapon is registered, has permitted use, belongs to a close relative and has been forgotten for several years” in the former deputy's apartment.

O Power360 accompanied the departure of Valdemar Costa Neto from the PF Superintendency. See images by Sérgio Lima, photojournalist for this digital newspaper:

PREVENTIVE PRISON

On Friday (Feb 9), Moraes had converted his arrest into preventive detention, when there is no deadline for revocation. The PGR (Attorney General's Office) was given a 24-hour deadline to comment on the request for provisional release presented by the defense.

Afterwards, the PGR spoke in favor of his release. The text, signed by the deputy attorney general of the Republic, Hindenburg Chateaubriand, states that the president of the PL “he is already subject to appropriate and sufficient precautionary measures, which prevent him from interfering in the investigative activity”.

“On the other hand, its dangerousness, which is linked to the risk of repeating the crime, is not recognized, nor is the presence of supervening circumstances capable of altering the situation that justified the measures previously enacted”, says Chateaubriand.