8/1: Public defender tries to acquit homeless man and street vendor – 03/20/2024 – Power

The DPU (Union Public Defender’s Office) is trying to acquit two defendants in the coup acts of January 8, 2023 who, according to the agency, are a street vendor and a homeless person.

In statements sent to the minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) Alexandre de Moraes, the Public Defender’s Office also states that they had nothing to do with the attacks. Both were arrested in the act in the context of the acts, but remain free under the condition of precautionary measures.

Last week, the STF acquitted one of the defendants in the 8/1 attacks for the first time. With Moraes’ approval, there were 11 votes to 0 in favor of Geraldo Filipe da Silva, who was homeless on the day of the events and said he had approached Praça dos Três Poderes “out of pure curiosity”.

The other homeless person and the street vendor that the Public Defender’s Office is also trying to acquit were denounced by the PGR (Attorney General’s Office), accused of being part of the nucleus responsible for carrying out the material attacks against the headquarters of the three Powers. The arguments were accepted by the STF ministers, who transformed the cases into criminal actions.

Crimes such as armed criminal association, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état, qualified damage through violence and serious threat and deterioration of listed heritage were cited.

Elielson dos Santos, 47, is a first-time offender. The DPU maintains that he is a street vendor and rules out that he is a protester or a scammer.

The Public Defender’s Office told the STF that he was selling caps, t-shirts and water in front of the Bolsonarista camp at the Army headquarters, in Brasília, where he was arrested in the act.

He also said that he was not present during the attacks and only showed up the next day to remove the goods that had been stored in the church close to the barracks since January 7th.

Furthermore, the DPU stated that Elielson “is going through a miserable situation, such as hunger”, and that there is evidence that he always sold caps and flags at traffic lights in Brasília.

On January 15 of this year, Moraes sent a letter to the Public Defender’s Office informing that Elielson failed to comply with the precautionary measures imposed. The minister asked for information about what happened, under the risk of immediate imprisonment.

The Public Defender’s Office responded, on March 8, that it had difficulty finding the defendant, “because he is a humble person, in a situation of extreme social vulnerability” and that he currently does not even have a telephone.

Defenders managed to speak to third parties who said they found the defendant selling products at traffic lights every day. They were willing to ask Elielson to contact the agency.

The defendant explained to the Public Defender’s Office that he is solely responsible for the care of his two minor children. According to him, his mother was murdered in Bahia.

According to the Public Defender’s Office, Elielson did not understand that the precautionary measure requires him to appear weekly at the Criminal Execution Court of the Federal District.

The body also asked Moraes to ratify the non-criminal prosecution agreement proposed by the PGR, despite the defendant “being innocent of the charges against him and suffering a tremendous injustice”, according to a letter sent to the STF.

The agreement avoids the trial of the case, but the person being investigated must confess to the crime, which must have a minimum sentence of less than four years. The mechanism, if strictly followed, also prevents the accused from losing his status as a first-time offender.

The Prosecutor’s Office claims that Elielson camped, until January 9th of last year, in front of the Army Headquarters, “publicly inciting animosity of the Armed Forces against the Constitutional Powers”.

“When heading there, the accused joined this association, whose aim was to commit crimes against the democratic rule of law”, he pointed out.

The other case raised by the DPU is that of Wagner de Oliveira, 54, about whom the Public Defender’s Office claims there is no evidence of participation in the acts. The Public Defender’s Office says he is a homeless person, suffering from physical (dwarfism) and mental (schizophrenia) health problems. He was arrested red-handed by the Military Police inside the Palácio do Planalto.

“Regrettably, the defendant, a representative of the most disadvantaged in society, found himself entangled in a plot that he had no possibility of understanding. In this context, his conviction for any of the conduct described in the initial accusation would represent an unacceptable revictimization of an excluded individual of society and affected by physical (dwarfism) and mental (schizophrenia) health problems”, he says.

The PGR itself, when filing a complaint against the man, stated that he was “homeless”, “and could be found” at an address in Asa Sul of Brasília.

The Public Defender’s Office said that no video, text or photo was presented that demonstrated the accused’s action to encourage or have any intention of promoting a coup d’état.

The agency also said that “the striking simplicity of the accused constrains any attempt to attribute the conduct described” in the indictment.

“What is being defended is the impossibility of issuing a condemnatory judgment to a homeless person who attended the concentration of people at the Army HQ with the aim of obtaining decent food, some spiritual comfort in religious meetings and, perhaps, the possibility of a trip to another state”, said the DPU.

He also explained that the vulnerable situation experienced by the defendant, “as well as being a portrait of the sad reality experienced by an invisible part of society”, reflects on the difficulty of his virtual participation in the judicial interrogation”.

The PGR said that Wagner and others involved joined forces, “notably through calls and aggregations through social networks and messaging applications, with the aim of committing crimes against the democratic rule of law.”

The Prosecutor’s Office said that the accused continued with the group that entered the Palácio do Planalto, “using violence and with the declared objective of implementing a military government and preventing the exercise of constitutional powers”.