CPMI rapporteur on January 8 will present a work plan

The Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) of January 8, whose activities were inaugurated last week, will meet again this Thursday (1st), awaiting the presentation of the work plan by the rapporteur, government senator Eliziane Gamma (PSD-MA). Her signs indicate that she will initially propose investigations of events prior to the acts of vandalism in Praça dos Três Poderes.

In support of the thesis of the escalation of disputes over the result of the 2022 presidential election, which culminated in the object of the CPMI, a chronogram of facts would be set up from December 12, the date of diplomacy of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), when there were protests in Brasilia, and on Christmas Eve, when there was a frustrated attack involving a tank truck near the airport.

To play this plan, the rapporteur tends to request the presence of characters related to previous episodes in the first hearings. She says she does not rule out asking for the summoning of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), seen by the rapporteur herself as encouraging the acts, but the tendency is that this will only occur later, to take even more advantage of the possible results of investigations against the Bolsonaro on several other fronts.

In any case, analysts and members of the collegiate assess that the rapporteur will face difficulties in obtaining a smooth approval of her schedule, due to the large volume of demands from both the government and the opposition, taking into account that the CPMI will have only one session per week at the over six months. As a result, the commission is embroiled in intense internal contention, with nearly 470 applications filed by deputies and senators on both sides. Their analysis will take place in the next session, depending on the agenda of the president of the collegiate, deputy Arthur Maia (União Brasil-BA), and the approval of the majority.

Current Minister of Justice and his predecessor are among the favorites for summons

Parliamentarians have already requested dozens of summons and breaches of telephone and telematic secrecy of the targets of the investigations. Behind the scenes, the bet is growing that the first sessions of greater weight of the CPMI will involve the summons or invitations of the current Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, and his predecessor, Anderson Torres. In the next step, Eliziane Gama should focus the investigations on the so-called mentors and financiers of the protests, already classified by her as “coup acts”.

Another inclination of the CPMI rapporteur is to seek immediate sharing of all the content of investigations already carried out by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Federal Police and CPI of the Legislative Chamber of the Federal District dedicated to the same subject.

Author of nearly 40 requests, senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE) also considers essential the presence of former Minister Anderson Torres, in addition to General Marco Gonçalves Dias, former head of the Institutional Security Office (GSI) of the Presidency. Although the CPMI is under the control of the allies of the Lula administration with most of the members – including the president, the vice president and the rapporteur –, the opposition parliamentarian hopes to finally have access to information that the government supposedly tried to hide.

Another focus of the opposition deals with those arrested by the investigation initiated by the STF due to the protests. “I believe that the CPMI has the potential to analyze events impartially. That is what we place our hopes on. In addition, it can contribute to a more accurate assessment of the legal situation of each individual detained. The culprits must be held accountable, but many people were wrongfully arrested. Based on the facts presented, if it is appropriate to label an individual a terrorist and consider January 8 to be an act of terrorism, we should look for individuals who are on the same level as the terrorist Cesare Battisti,” said Senator Magno Malta ( PL-ES) to People’s Gazette.

Even if the final report does not bring concrete administrative or judicial actions, any CPI provokes debates around interpretations of facts. For the government, the fear is that the CPMI of January 8 could jeopardize the negotiation of agendas considered important, such as the tax reform.

There is also the fear of Planalto organizers that constraints on parliamentarians and the military will produce unnecessary wear and tear.

Finally, government organizers fear, even without admitting it, that the eventual disclosure of new revealing materials could produce an impact equal to that of the images with the former head of the GSI present at the Planalto Palace during the invasion.