The Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF) released this Friday the video of a ministerial meeting held in April at the Planalto Palace, pointed out by ex-minister Sergio Moro as evidence of alleged interference by the President, Jair Bolsonaro, in the police. In this video, the President of Brazil is heard to offend governors of several states that oppose him and also confesses that he will not be quiet while the Justice moves to “plot” (Bolsonaro uses a much more violent word) his family.
In addition to questions related to Bolsonaro, STF judge Celso de Mello indicated that, after watching the video, he discovered “evidence of the apparent practice, by the Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, of a possible crime against the honor of the Supreme Court judges.
“The people are screaming for freedom, period. I think this is what we are losing, we are really losing. The people are wanting to see what brought me here. I, for myself, put these vagabonds all in jail. Starting in the STF, “said Abraham Weintraub, quoted in the decision signed by Judge Celso de Mello.
At stake is the conversation recorded at a meeting of ministers, which took place at the Presidency’s headquarters in Brasilia, and which was cited in the testimony of former Minister of Justice and Public Security of Brazil, Sergio Moro, who accuses Bolsonaro of alleged interference with the Federal Police .
At the meeting, and according to Moro, Bolsonaro allegedly demanded the replacement of the Federal Police superintendent in Rio de Janeiro in order to avoid an investigation of family members and allies.
The Brazilian Attorney General’s Office (AGU), an organ that defends the Executive in legal proceedings, argued that only Bolsonaro’s statements should be disclosed, and not those of the other participants in the meeting, having delivered a document with the statements of the head of state isolated. Sergio Moro’s defense calls for full disclosure of the video content.
The video of the controversial meeting was under secrecy at the Supreme Court, having been released this afternoon.
The ministerial meeting in question took place on April 22, two days before Moro’s resignation, when he denounced “unacceptable pressures” by Bolsonaro in relation to the Federal Police, an autonomous body under the Judiciary, although its director is appointed by the President of the Republic .
“The President told me, more than once, expressly, that he wanted to have a person of his personal contact [para quem] he could call, [de quem] he could gather information, [com quem] he could collect intelligence reports. Be the director [da Polícia Federal], be a superintendent “, declared Moro, when announcing his resignation.
Listening request for Bolsonaro’s mobile phone? Minister finds “unacceptable”
Judge Celso de Mello of the Federal Supreme Court sent on Thursday to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) judicial requests presented by political parties, including the seizure of Jair Bolsonaro’s mobile phone.
The requests were submitted by the Democratic Labor Party (PDT), the Green Party (PV) and the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB). The parties argued that an investigation should be carried out precisely on this alleged attempt at political interference by the Brazilian President in the Federal Police, of which he is accused. The former Minister of Justice resigned at the end of April, calling a press conference where he challenged those he considered the President’s “sins”, even referring that “not even at the time of Lava Jato” had faced so much pressure from the executive branch.
Who did not like this possibility was the minister of the Institutional Security Office (GSI), General Augusto Heleno, who this Friday classified as “inconceivable” and “unbelievable” a possible seizure of the President’s cell phone. In a statement, Heleno even considered that, if it happened, such an act would constitute “an affront to the maximum authority of the executive branch and an unacceptable interference of another branch in the privacy of the President of the Republic and in the institutional security of the country”.
Some commentators were startled by this intervention by the general, who seems to want to “protect” the President. The military, a profession that Bolsonaro himself has already exercised, have acquired prominence in Brazilian political life that reminds some of the hard years of the dictatorship. The President himself is not shy of participating in demonstrations where the participants clearly demand the return of the regime and wear breast bands with the binomial binomial “AI-5”, short for “Institutional Act No. 5”, a decree issued by the Military Dictatorship during the government of Artur da Costa e Silva understood by historians as the document that inaugurated the darkest period of the dictatorship, with violence, persecution and torture on a large scale.
Robson Bonin, political commentator at “Veja” magazine sees these statements by Heleno as a way to divert attention of the video where Bolsonaro’s attempts to interfere with the nominations, for political reasons, for the Federal Police are clearly clear: “The general’s note is yet another of these coup-firing acts fed by the palace. It comes just hours before the STF divulges the video that will leave Bolsonaro and his government naked in image and sound. Hence the need to create yet another crisis “.
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