Defendants from SP and PR are the first 4 judged by the STF on 8/1 – 10/09/2023 – Power

Eight months after the January 8th coup attacks, the STF (Supreme Federal Court) begins to judge on Wednesday (13) supporters of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) involved in the invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the three Powers.

The president of the court, Minister Rosa Weber, included four criminal actions on the agenda of the first extraordinary session dedicated to the case. The plenary trial will be in person.

The first defendants to sit in the dock are men, aged between 24 and 52 and residing in cities in Paraná and São Paulo, according to complaints from the PGR (Attorney General’s Office).

The Prosecutor’s Office requests the conviction of the group for the crimes of armed criminal association, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, coup d’état, damage qualified by violence and serious threat, all of which fall under the Penal Code, and also deterioration of listed property, an offense provided for by law 9,605/1998.

The accusatory pieces were produced by the GCAA (Strategic Group to Combat Anti-Democratic Acts), created in the PGR in response to violent acts and after years in which the leadership of the body commanded by Augusto Aras assessed, in most cases, that demonstrations of a coup plotters were the exercise of freedom of expression.

Coordination of the GCAA was the responsibility of deputy attorney Carlos Frederico Santos, one of those considered to succeed Aras. The Prosecutor’s Office informed the Sheet that Carlos Frederico will be the representative of the Federal Public Ministry in the trials regarding January 8th.

The procedural instruction, stage of production of evidence and interrogations of witnesses for the prosecution and defense, was quick for the standards of the criminal actions that are processed in the Supreme Court. The pace was dictated by the rapporteur’s office, Minister Alexandre de Moraes.

The processing of these first processes by the office of Kassio Nunes Marques, minister appointed by Jair Bolsonaro and who serves as reviewer, was also brief.

When the court deliberated on the charges, the score was a large majority for the opening of criminal proceedings, and the expectation is that this scenario will be repeated to convict the accused. Kassio and André Mendonça, another name mentioned by Bolsonaro, disagreed with their colleagues on part of the complaints.

Recently sent to the Supreme Court, the PGR’s final allegations against the defendants Aécio Lúcio Costa Pereira, 51, residing in Diadema (SP); Thiago de Assis Mathar, 43, from São José do Rio Preto (SP); Moacir José dos Santos, 52, from Foz do Iguaçu (PR); and Matheus Lima de Carvalho Lázaro, 24, from Apucarana (PR), reinforced the request for conviction.

The complaints state that on the day of the attacks, after the “criminal horde” broke through the police blockade, Pereira entered the Senate; Mathar and Santos, at Palácio do Planalto; and Lázaro, in the National Congress, without detailing whether he was in both Legislative Houses or just one of them.

The processes contain information to demonstrate the presence of the defendants in these locations. Pereira, for example, recorded a video sitting on the Board of Directors in the Senate plenary, when he wore a T-shirt bearing the words “federal military intervention”.

In Mathar’s case, investigators compared photos of him taken at Papuda, the penitentiary where he was taken after being arrested, images from the Palácio do Planalto’s video system and the defendant’s description of the clothes he was wearing on January 8.

The complaints do not attribute specific damages to each of the defendants, as is the case with Antônio Cláudio Alves Ferreira, caught by the widely publicized cameras at the Executive headquarters, destroying the historic clock brought to Brazil by Dom João 6º, in 1808.

The lack of individualization is one of the aspects explored by lawyers and public defenders to ask for the acquittal of the four defendants, who deny vandalizing public property or violence against members of the security forces who acted on that date.

In general terms, the four defendants argue that they traveled to Brasília for a “peaceful march” or hoped to “[que fosse] a peaceful demonstration.”

Mathar says he joined Planalto to take shelter from the violent conflict near the building. He said he helped roll up curtains that were ripped off and thrown on the floor, as well as hanging out some so that people who were feeling sick could lie down.

“It should be noted that the manifesto took place on a Sunday, with the buildings empty, making it disproportionate to think that the functions of the authorities would no longer be exercised due to demonstrations”, states Santos’ defense.

Pereira’s lawyers classify the complaint as “generic” and ask for the criminal action to be suspended and for the defendant to be acquitted of all charges.

“The only moment in which the defendant’s conduct is individualized is when the accusatory piece mentions a video that was published in the media”, they state. “This video does not show the defendant committing any action typical of the crimes reported.”

When arguing against the lack of individualization of conduct, the PGR states that it is “irrelevant” to discriminate which property or assets the defendants damaged or specify how they confronted the security agents.

“This is because, according to what can be seen from the evidence collected, the crimes, committed in a context of crowds, could only be consummated with the sum of conduct and the communion of efforts of all”, he says.