Court begins analyzing criminal actions against those accused of participating in the invasion of the buildings of the Three Powers
O STF (Supreme Federal Court) begins this Wednesday (September 13, 2023) the analysis of 4 criminal actions against those accused of involvement in the extremist acts of the 8th of January, in Brasília.
To judge the cases, the President of the Court, Minister Rosa Weber, scheduled two extraordinary sessions at 9:30 am this Wednesday (September 13th) and Thursday (September 14th). As a result, the Supreme Court will have 4 sessions to analyze the actions.
In total, the STF must analyze 262 actions involving the invasion of the Three Powers. The first actions deal with those accused of invasion and vandalism of public buildings. Here are the defendants (read more about each case below):
- Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira – arrested red-handed in the Senate;
- Thiago de Assis Mathar – arrested red-handed at Palácio do Planalto;
- Moacir José dos Santos – arrested in the act at Palácio do Planalto (he is the only one who is free);
- Matheus Lima de Carvalho – arrested in Praça do Buriti.
The defendants are responsible for the practice of armed criminal association, violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d’état, qualified damage through violence and serious threat to the Union’s assets and deterioration of listed assets.
The complaints were presented by PGR (Attorney General’s Office) and accepted by collegiate decision in the virtual plenary. In July, the process hearings were held, with the collection of testimonies from witnesses for the defense, prosecution and interrogation of the defendants.
The 4 cases will be judged individually. The session should begin with the reading of the report made by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of all 4 actions, followed by complements from the reviewer, Minister Nunes Marques. After that, it is the PGR’s turn to present the accusation, followed by the defense’s arguments. Each person will have 1 hour to present evidence and arguments against the defendants.
After the arguments, it is the rapporteur’s turn to present his vote on the action. The 2nd to vote is Nunes Marques and the last is the president of the STF, minister Rosa Weber.
Find out who the defendants are
The accused is 51 years old, lives in Diadema (SP) and went to Brasília at the invitation of his friends who frequent the Quartel do Sudeste II, in São Paulo. Aecio was part of a group called “Patriots group”. At the custody hearing, he denied vandalizing the Senate, where he was arrested, and stated that “his goal was to fight for freedom”.
The defendant’s defense stated that the complaint offered by the PGR is “generic” and narrates the existence of “typical facts” which do not detail who would have acted in this or that way.
“In this case, in the accusatory statement itself, the existence of several different conducts in carrying out the crime (or crimes), carried out by several agents, would be declined, without specifying the concrete correspondence between one (conduct) and another (agent), it would be possible to verify the difficulty both in the broad exercise of defense and in the individualization of penalties”says the defense.
He is 43 years old, lives in Penápolis (SP) and went to Brasília after visiting the General Headquarters of São José do Rio Preto, where he was invited to go to the federal capital on a bus with other protesters.
At the custody hearing, Thiago admitted that he had committed extremist acts, but that he had “peaceful intention“. He denies that he participated in the depredation of the Palácio do Planalto and says that he only entered the institution to take shelter. The accused spent approximately 2 hours in the afternoon of January 8 at the Palace.
He further stated that he had no intention of carrying out a coup d’état or deposing the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and who only participated in the acts to “show your displeasure”.
He is 52 years old, lives in Cascavel (PR) and went to Brasília on a chartered bus along with 60 other people – he says he did not pay for the trip. Moacir was arrested red-handed inside Planalto.
In testimony, he stated that he considers himself “victim of the state” and who participated in a peaceful march to Praça dos Três Poderes on January 8th. The defendant further stated that he entered the building after realizing that there were already protesters and denied that he had participated in any depredation at the location.
When asked about the objectives of the demonstration, Moacir stated that he was looking for a “Better Brazil” and defended the ideals of sacred scriptures and morals. He stated that he did not support any specific leader and that the protest was peaceful.
The accused’s defense claims that the PGR’s complaint is based on 5 folders that publicized the acts on January 8 and that it is not possible to identify the people who participated in the demonstration. Furthermore, the lawyer says that the complaint does not contain facts that “confirm criminal conduct on the part of the accused”.
The accused is 24 years old, lives in Apucarana (PR) and came to Brasília by bus. On the day of the events, Matheus stated that he went to the Esplanada dos Ministérios with 2 friends who were camped at the Army HQ (General Headquarters) and who had already invaded public bodies when he arrived at the location.
The defendant claims that he went up to the National Congress ramp and recorded the movement with his phone. The images were shared on their social media profiles. He also says that his colleagues broke windows in the Senate, but that he only participated in the invasion of Congress.
When the Military Police of the Federal District arrived at the extremists in Congress, Matheus went to the Mané Garrincha stadium and changed his shirt so as not to be recognized, but was approached shortly afterwards and detained.
What the PGR says
According to the lawyers of the 4 defendants, the complaints filed by the PGR against the suspects contain similarities and the absence of factors that explain the role of each accused in the invasion of the Three Powers.
The body mentions previous organizations of extremist groups since the results of the 2nd round of the presidential elections. The PGR presents the same factors in all complaints: stating that those accused – now defendants – participated in a “criminal group” which aimed to “installation of an alternative government regime, a product of the abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law”.
In the petitions filed in the cases, the PGR says that the extremists acted as a group and “united by the subjective bond to carry out the common work” and, therefore, they must be held responsible for their actions.
“Everyone must, in their own time and individually, answer for the crimes committed, being aware of the fact that joining multitudinous movements voluntarily, including encouraging, inciting, instigating, assisting or encouraging the coup masses, is committing the same crimes”says the body in one of the petitions.
Agreements
On August 22, Minister Alexandre de Moraes allowed the possibility of reaching agreements for 1,156 defendants involved in acts of vandalism. The decision responded to the PGR’s statement, which has the support of OAB (Brazilian Bar Association).
The body defended agreements with the accused, in addition to asking the Supreme Court to analyze the possibility of the PGR itself offering agreements. The order suspended criminal proceedings against the defendants for 120 days, so that the PGR could decide on the proposed agreement. After that, the minister still needs to analyze whether or not he will accept the proposal.
The agreement in question is called ANPP (Non-Persecution Agreement) and allows defendants not to be tried or punished with imprisonment for possible crimes.
According to the PGR, the sum of the maximum sentences for the crimes for which the defendants were charged amount to 3 years and 6 months, meeting one of the prerequisites for drafting the agreement, which allows sentences of less than 4 years. To be effective, the defendant must confess “formally and circumstantially” the commission of the criminal offense.
Initially, the PGR had ruled out the possibility of offering an agreement to those being investigated. However, it now understands that there is a distinction between the conduct practiced by the agents who invaded the headquarters of the Three Powers and those who were arrested in the camp set up in the Army HQ area, in Brasília.
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