Chamber of Deputies must decide on the arrest of Chiquinho Brazão

The arrest of federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão (União Brasil-RJ) must be analyzed by the Federal Chamber, in a session to be called by the presidency of the House.

The Constitution determines that the arrest of a parliamentarian must be maintained or reversed by decision of his peers.

Article 53 of the Magna Carta states: “Members of the National Congress may not be arrested, except in the act of committing a non-bailable crime. In this case, the records will be sent within twenty-four hours to the respective House, so that, by the vote of the majority of its members, it can decide on the arrest.”

The procedure to be followed from now on is the following: the STF must inform the Chamber about the arrest of Chiquinho Brazão within a period of 24 hours. Afterwards, the Presidency of the House notifies the arrested parliamentarian that the detention will be considered in the next session. This is what happened in the recent cases of deputies Wilson Santiago and Daniel Silveira.

In the plenary, an opinion from the Constitution and Justice Commission on prison is presented.

The parliamentarian’s defense will have space to speak on three occasions, for 15 minutes. (before reading the opinion, after reading it and after discussing the matter).

After this moment, voting takes place. The quorum required for the decision is an absolute majority. Voting is open, that is, without secrecy, and the resolution is promulgated with the result after the session.

União Brasil can expel the parliamentarian

The president of Chiquinho Brazão’s party, União Brasil, Antônio Rueda, released an official statement this Sunday (24).

According to the note, Rueda will ask the National Executive Committee to open disciplinary proceedings against the deputy “with a view to his expulsion from the Party, with cancellation of party membership.”

The party also argues that “although affiliated with União Brasil, federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão no longer maintained a relationship with the party and had asked the Superior Electoral Court for authorization to disaffiliate.”

União Brasil will meet its National Executive Committee next Tuesday, March 26th.

“The Party Statute provides for the application of the sanction of expulsion with cancellation of party membership on a precautionary basis in cases of seriousness and urgency”, concludes the note.