CPI files a lawsuit against Cid after silence in hearing – 07/13/2023 – Power

Parliamentarians of the January 8 CPI filed a lawsuit against Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, after the former assistant to Jair Bolsonaro (PL) refused to respond to questions from members of the commission.

The request was filed this Thursday (13) and distributed to the 10th Federal Criminal Court of the Federal District, which sent the case to the Federal Public Ministry for manifestation.

Cid mentioned being investigated in at least eight criminal investigations and said that he was guided by the defense to use his habeas corpus, granted by the Minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) Cármen Lúcia, which guarantees him the right to remain silent and not respond to questions that could incriminate him in the session held on Tuesday (11).

In the document sent to Justice, signed by Senate lawyers, the commission states that there was “abuse of the right to silence by the represented [Cid]”. Sought by the report, Cid’s defense did not respond.

The commission affirms that the former adjutant pledged to tell the truth about the facts that did not have the power to incriminate him.

For parliamentarians, the deponent disrespected Carmen Lúcia’s order and “ostensibly abused the rights inherent in the guarantee of non-self-incrimination to the detriment of the proper functioning of the parliamentary inquiry and the prerogatives of legislative investigations conferred by the Constitution to the Republic and by popular sovereignty to Congress” .

Among the arguments, the CPI cites some interventions that took place in the session. For example, that of deputy Jandira Feghali (PC do B-RJ), a member of the base of the Lula government (PT) in the National Congress. The parliamentarian asked the age of the military man.

“To maintain the coherence of what I have been saying and following the guidance of my technical team, I will remain silent”, replied Cid, at the time.

Also an ally of the Planalto Palace, deputy Duarte Jr. (PSB-MA) questioned the former adjutant about what is the first precept of military ethics. Cid repeated the answer, which he replicated dozens of times throughout the session, which lasted almost eight hours.

The government base tried to exploit the proximity between Cid and Bolsonaro to bring the former representative to the center of investigations into the attack on the headquarters of the three Powers.

At the beginning of the session, Cid read a message in which he praised his trajectory in the Armed Forces and relativized the attributions of his position in the government. The officer tried to reduce the role of the aide-de-camp to that of a secretary and said, for example, that it was not his role to review proposals brought to the president.

Cid has been in pretrial detention since May on suspicions surrounding the forgery of his vaccination card, that of his wife, Bolsonaro’s youngest daughter, and the former president himself.

In another line of investigation, the Federal Police identified fractional deposits and withdrawals and in cash from the aide-de-camp and other members of the Palácio do Planalto related to payments of bills by former first lady Michelle Bolsonaro.