Delation in the Marielle case exposes contradictions of the Lula government

The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, announced on Monday morning (24), with great media appeal and a strong political connotation, the award-winning denunciation made by former military police officer Élcio de Queiroz to the Federal Police (PF) and the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro (MP-RJ), about details of the murder of councilor Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes. The results of this denunciation have not yet served to identify the perpetrators of the crime, but they have highlighted the contradiction of members and allies of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in relation to the use of the award-winning delation as an instrument of investigation, in addition to Planalto’s willingness to continue politically exploring the related episodes.

In the denunciation announced as a merit of the current government, Queiroz only confesses to participating in the crime of which he was already accused and for which he has been serving a provisional sentence since 2019, and even confirms Ronnie Lessa, a former retired police officer, as the author of the 13 shots that killed Marielle and Gomes. Lessa has also been imprisoned for four years for the same reasons. Based on information provided by Élcio de Queiroz, the PF arrested Maxwell Simões Corrêa, known as Suel, who was already suspected of collaborating with the March 14, 2018 attack, but was responding freely.

Moved by fears of betrayal and reprisals by cronies, Queiroz’s denunciation was signed without the consent of his then lawyer, Henrique Telles. By agreeing to make a complaint about the deaths of Marielle and Gomes, the former PM obtained benefits by confessing his participation in the crime. According to the agreement signed, in addition to the four years he is in prison, he will serve another eight years in a state penitentiary, totaling 12 years in prison in a closed regime. Another advantage obtained is that Queiroz will not go to the popular jury, unlike Ronnie Lessa. In addition, his family will receive police protection.

Deal with whistleblower depends on new evidence, says prosecutor

According to the public prosecutor of Paraná (MP-PR) and doctor in State Procedural Law, Rodrigo Chemim, the award-winning collaboration is a valid and encouraged institute in international treaties to which Brazil is a signatory, such as the UN Convention of Palermo, against organized crime, the UN Convention against Corruption and the Mérida Convention. He emphasizes that Law 12,850/2013 regulates the instrument used primarily in favor of the defense, since it only occurs if the investigated or defendant wants to collaborate. “If the award-winning collaboration was useful for Operation Lava Jato, it can also be applied to the Marielle case,” he noted.

Chemim highlights the importance of knowing more details about the terms of the agreement for a more in-depth assessment of the case. However, he points out that any whistleblowing agreement assumes that the whistleblower presents information that leads to the discovery of new evidence, as the whistleblower is not, in itself, a means of obtaining evidence. “Without producing this effect, the agreement loses its reason for existing, since its validity is linked to obtaining evidence that corroborates the collaborator’s assertions”, he observed.

After the disclosure that the award-winning delation is being used in the investigation of the councilwoman’s murder, Senator Sergio Moro (União-PR) and former deputy Deltan Dallagnol (Podemos-PR) recalled that, on other occasions, the PT used to disapprove of this instrument when it was used by Lava Jato. In an interview with the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, the former judge of the operation stated: “The award-winning collaboration, despite being demonized by the PT, was fundamental in revealing the irregularities at Petrobras during the Lula government”. “The left, the guarantors of occasion and the prerogatives will all celebrate what until yesterday they criticized in Lava Jato. Hypocrites,” former federal prosecutor Dallagnol said on Twitter.

The national president of the PT, deputy Gleisi Hoffmann (PR), refuted Dallagnol and Moro’s statements on the case. Gleisi stated that the information obtained from the delation “corroborates the existing evidence”, unlike the “Republic of Curitiba that arrested people and then, when they did not find evidence, forced confessions”.

Expert points to exaggerations in the federalization of investigations

For Colonel Fernando Montenegro, a reserve soldier who commanded the occupation of Complexo do Alemão in Rio de Janeiro in 2010 and a specialist in urban security, the federalization of the Marielle case was an exaggeration. “The only thing the PF has done so far is get Élcio Queiroz, who had been imprisoned for four years, pleaded guilty,” he said. He also finds it curious that the announcement of the arrest of someone who had already been arrested before was presented as the main result of the accusation so far.

He considers the allegation of incompetence by the Civil Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro to be especially exaggerated, when it is known that it was the Homicide Police Station (DH) of Rio that was responsible for having arrested Ronnie Lessa, Élcio Queiroz and even the former firefighter years ago. “Rio DH even asked for a Navy sonar to try to look for the weapons at sea and also requested the arrest of Lessa’s wife, in addition to having checked the two thousand Cobalt cars (the model used in the crime) throughout the state”, he stressed.

For Montenegro, the government’s real effort, represented in the figure of Minister Flávio Dino, is to associate the case with the figure of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). Proof of this is the fact that the investigations are focusing on the circumstances that led Ronnie Lessa to obtain a mechanical leg through the help of then-deputy Bolsonaro. “The most important thing at this point, the Rio Homicide Police Department has already done, which was to identify the doctor who implanted the mechanical leg in Lessa at the Hospital da Lagoa, thanks to a parliamentary appointment by Bolsonaro”, he observed.

PT tries to limit the scope of defendants’ collaborations since 2018

Despite the government’s effort to highlight the advances in the investigations of the “Marielle case” through this denunciation, the disclosure confirms an evident contradiction of the PT. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s party had been trying to impose limits on this instrument of investigation in recent years, despite the obvious advances it had brought. An action proposed by the party in this regard was denied by the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) in early 2022, in an opinion sent to the Federal Supreme Court (STF). Interestingly, award-winning collaboration agreements are provided for in Law 12,850/2013, sanctioned by then-president Dilma Rousseff (PT).

In the past, when he was still a federal deputy, the current Secretary of Consumer Protection of the Ministry of Justice, Wadih Damous (PT), presented three bills between 2016 and 2018 to restrict the award-winning delation in Brazil. After Operation Lava Jato, PT leaders criticized the use of this instrument in police operations. Damous suggested that the award-winning denunciation would only be valid if there was the participation of the delegate responsible for the operation, the investigated person and his defender. If this interpretation were in force, Élcio de Queiroz’s accusation would have no legal value.

In the current context, Queiroz’s plea bargain resulted in the preventive arrest of Suel, the owner of the car used to hide the weapons that were found in Ronnie Lessa’s apartment. Queiroz was accused of helping throw the weapons into the sea and, in 2021, was sentenced to four years in prison for obstructing investigations. According to the complaint, the PM pointed out that Suel also helped to prepare the crime, including monitoring Marielle’s routine.

Dino sees the presence of militiamen in crime as something indisputable

The apparent change in attitude of the PT and its government, by belatedly recognizing the whistleblower as a valuable instrument to uncover crimes, contrasts with the previous view, in which this mechanism was seen as excessive and violating fundamental rights, even associated with a fascist state. Despite the disclosure of the accusation, which did not bring new facts for a crime that occurred in 2018, questions arise about the interest of Dino and the government in producing results that only justify advances in the area of ​​Justice in relation to previous governments. This also sheds light on the PT’s real criticism, which seems to have been directed not at the methods successfully adopted by Operation Lava Jato itself, but at its targets.

According to the PF, Élcio de Queiroz’s plea bargain may result in new discoveries, as it may encourage other investigated persons to also collaborate with justice through whistle blowing agreements. Dino stated that the involvement of the Rio de Janeiro militias in the case of Marielle’s murder is “indisputable” and that new stages of the investigation will reveal how far this involvement extends.