Aras releases a note in which he refutes accusations of inertia: “Respect for the Constitution”

The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) released this Saturday afternoon (11) a note in which Attorney General Augusto Aras refuted accusations that he had been lenient with former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

Citing the performance of the various members of the Federal Public Ministry (MPF), the note pointed out that “no one, especially in a legal career, can ignore the law, the thirty-year-old practice of peer delegations, nor the guarantee of the functional independence that the subattorneys general who officiate there are incumbent. Any imputation of omission addressed to the PGR also affects the SPGRs [subprocuradores-gerais] who are part of the top of the institution and the MPF itself”.

“It is noted that the current administration has been guided by respect for the Constitution and due process of law as a fundamental guarantee to avoid excesses, abuses and deviations, ills that nullified countless processes of previous administrations, leading citizens to illegal arrests, with the criminalization of policy and irreparable damage to the economy,” he added.

“For this reason, PGR Augusto Aras vehemently rejects any imputation of omission that may be directed at him or his fellow Deputy Attorneys General of the Republic, certain that functional independence is also a guarantee against possible abuse by public agents, members of bodies or power”, pointed out the note.

“Finally, one cannot speak of ministerial inertia, since, in the case of the PGR, all cases return to the Superior Courts with substantiated manifestations for judgment of the respective actions, in progress, subject to public knowledge, by whoever consults their records physical or electronic,” concluded the document.

Appointed by Bolsonaro to the PGR in 2019 and reappointed in 2021, Aras was accused by the left of leniency during the four years of the government of the then president of the PL (2019-2022), for refusing requests to open an investigation made by oppositionists. His term ends in September.