Delegation will report abuses against 8/1 prisoners to the UN

A group of opposition parliamentarians and lawyers will present a formal complaint to the United Nations (UN) about the situation of people who remain imprisoned in Brasilia for alleged involvement with the acts of vandalism on January 8th. The delegation plans to go to New York, headquarters of the UN, next Friday (21).

The initiative was announced this Thursday (13) by Senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE) after a hearing at the Senate Public Security Commission in which family members and lawyers of the detainees reported a series of allegations of abuse and illegalities in Papuda penitentiaries. (male) and Colmeia (female), in Brasilia.

During the public hearing, the senators heard reports about irregularities and violations allegedly committed by the Federal Police (PF) and other security and justice bodies. According to the lawyers, the prisoners are having their fundamental constitutional guarantees violated. The bodies would also be violating, according to the guests at the session, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international treaties on civil and political rights to which Brazil is a signatory.

Senator Girão said that the demonstrators are “political prisoners” who have suffered “vexatious” and inhumane situations. “These people are not forgotten, because we will fight until the end for them. The Democratic State of Law needs to return, ”he declared.

Senator Magno Malta (PL-ES) said that he has been visiting and interacting intensely with the demonstrators and regretted the punishment suffered by those who only “love their homeland, their children, their faith, their values ​​and their principles”. “Our legal system, if it exists, is in the clouds,” he protested.

Thrilled, the leader of the opposition, senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), was moved to tears. “Brazil is going through a very challenging moment. There is a deliberate strategy to dehumanize those who think differently. We are relativizing democracy, the inviolability of mandates, the Constitution, human rights, the legal system and values,” he said.

Senator Marcos Rogério (PL-RO) pointed out violations in the prerogatives of law, in addition to the “obvious need” to individualize conduct. “We are seeing the blackout of the Constitution, of legal traditions, of legal security, of the natural judge, with prisoners not being heard by the judge. What is that?” he asked.

Hamilton Mourão (Republicanos-RS), in turn, criticized narratives to “bind the population”. “In January we had a normal demonstration against the government that was established, which, unfortunately, ended, due to the action of some, in a riot. To say that it was an attempted coup d’état is an extreme narrative. This is a scandal that we cannot accept, ”he stressed.

“A total injustice is taking place with thousands of Brazilians and much of this is due to the STF, which the Senate is responsible for overseeing”, recalled Cleitinho (Republicanos-MG).

Relatives have criticized inhumane treatment of detainees for months

President of the Association of Relatives and Victims of January 8, Gabriela Fernanda Ritter, whose father is among the detainees, showed during the hearing videos, reports, expert reports and a 53-page report with the main violations to prove the irregularities against the detainees, that include mothers with younger children, seniors with comorbidities and even guardians with pets.

“Our family members did not come to Brasilia with the intention of vandalizing. We want them to have the right to a defense, that they pay in proportion to their crimes and not with the allegation of an attempted coup. There is nothing that discredits their conduct for six months in prison. The truth is already coming out in the testimonies and we wonder why they are still in prison, ”he said.

She added the dominant profile of prisoners, tax-paying workers, fathers and first-time offenders “who should never have been there” for lack of a solid justification for maintaining their detention. “Most do not have a criminal record or represent a danger to society. Meanwhile, many who committed very serious and heinous crimes are on the loose. They cannot be seen as mere criminal action numbers where everything is generalized”.

Representative of the lawyers prosecuted for the acts of January 8, Carolina Siebra reported “great difficulty” in obtaining arrest records, which lack information about the prisoners. She also described the “war scenario” in Colmeia, with uncertain hours for attending to the detainees in the prison, and denounced a series of “absurdities and legal aberrations” in the processes.

The lawyer cited Resolution 213/2015, of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), according to which the prisoner must be taken to a judge so that he can verify the legality of the arrest. “The assisted person also has to be heard by the judge who will judge him and that is not what we saw. In the case of my client, the judge read a text and at the end we made the most diverse requests for release and the Public Prosecution Service manifested itself also reading something written. We have cases in which the Public Prosecutor’s Office only showed video. In the face of these absurdities, the OAB was silent “, he testified.

Carolina also pointed out the “lack of humanization at the time of arrests” and said that the lack of individualization of sentences “causes everyone to be taken in the same convoy”. The representative of the lawyers stated that the Constitution is being “usurped and mortally wounded”, and that the protesters’ defense is not being heard by the judicial authorities, who should act with “impartiality”.

“To this day, we don’t have the corpus delicti report that the detainees did at the IML. We don’t know what an anti-democratic act is, because we no longer know what is true or false. There is a scale that weighs more to one side and I don’t want to believe that this is ideological. The Constitution came to put an end to authoritarianism, and it is being torn apart,” he argued.

Ombudsman reports overcrowding and affront to health problems

Emmanuela Saboya, Deputy General Public Advocate for the Federal District, expressed concern for the detainees, stating that many face serious psychiatric problems due to distancing from family members. Although the Núcleo de Custódia da Defensoria has visited the prisons since the first days of detention, the agency is not involved in the legal defense of prisoners, since the crimes charged are federal.

“However, the Ombudsman actively seeks to humanize the conditions of detainees, recognizing that they are not just numbers. A detailed report, accompanied by photographs, has been produced, which particularly highlights concerns about food,” he said.

She reported that overcrowding in the women’s prison has been a problem since the beginning, with insufficient accommodation, especially for the many elderly women. In cells designed to accommodate eight people, there are 16, forcing them to sleep on the floor. The deputy defender shared witnessed cases, such as that of a 30-year-old prisoner who had seizures due to food allergies.