Fear of criminalization by the STF: pro-Dallagnol acts adopt restrictions

The groups that are mobilizing to hold a protest against the impeachment of Deputy Deltan Dallagnol (Podemos-PR), next Sunday, June 4, have been preparing the demonstrators to prevent any conduct, message or movement that opens a gap for the criminalization of the act , as happened with the January 8 demonstration, which led to the invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the Three Powers, in Brasília.

To avoid any resemblance to the episode, the pro-Dallagnol movements decided not to carry out the act in the federal capital, and intend to carry out acts in 10 other capitals. The motto of all will be “Democracy, Justice and Freedom”, and there is an effort to avoid the participation of groups that defend military intervention, closure of Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

In addition, the organizers have maintained contact with the police, to ensure the presence of security agents, define the route well and even adopt a protocol for the possibility of infiltrators, such as black blocksjoin the protests to commit acts of vandalism and violence and thus tarnish the purposes of the demonstration.

“At the first meetings, we prohibited people from carrying a sign asking for military intervention, closure of Congress and STF, bad words and curses”, says Cristina Leal, from the Olho no Congresso Brasil movement, which supports and has links with Dallagnol.

“We want to restart the process back to the streets. People are rightly scared, what happened in January was too scary. People are afraid to even post. The demonstration is to bring people back to the streets, in a peaceful way and to seek solutions for the country”, says Cristina.

Her group is expected to meet with Vem Pra Rua, Fora Corruptos, Grita, União Jovem, Mulheres com Moro and Partido Novo on Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo, around 2 pm on Sunday, for a walk. At the end, there will be a symbolic act in reference to the 345,000 votes that Dallagnol received in Paraná and were invalidated with the decision of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

If any vandals appear, or if someone causes a disturbance or fight, the order is for everyone to stay seated, so that the police can quickly identify and arrest the aggressor.

In addition to criticizing the impeachment of Deltan Dallagnol, the demonstrators must protest against the censorship practiced by the Justice, as well as the persecution of other right-wing leaders, such as Sergio Moro (União-PR), denounced at the Federal Supreme Court (STF) because of a joke about Gilmar Mendes and that he also runs the risk of being impeached. Banners against the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will not be banned, but they will not be the focus.

In addition to São Paulo, there are protests scheduled for Vitória (ES), Goiânia (GO), Campo Grande (MS), Belém (PA), Recife (PE), Porto Alegre (RS), Florianópolis (SC), and Curitiba (PR). ), which should be the largest, in addition to five other cities in the interior of Santa Catarina: Criciúma, Balneário Camboriú, Palhoça, Jaraguá do Sul and Joinville.

Brasília will not have a pro-Dallagnol demonstration

The movements decided not to hold an event in Brasilia, not only because of the trauma of January 8, but also because the logistics and organization for events at the Esplanada dos Ministérios became more difficult with the Security Secretariat. “It had to have at least 5,000 people and because it was at the last minute, and without the guarantee of the Secretariat of Public Security, we decided not to do it”, says Lucas Tomas, from the União, Juventude e Liberdade group.

He also says that, even before the publicity of the acts, there was concern among the organizers to prevent the participation of “extremists”. There was always a conversation with the movements, which we imagined inviting, which always supported democracy, never with attacks. There are some disagreements, but that’s part of it. But we made it clear that any type of demonstration would make clear the appreciation for the agenda of “Democracy, Justice and Freedom”. No intervention by extremists, so you don’t have that kind of person.”

Although an act with people is not foreseen, the organizers are evaluating whether it will be possible to at least hang a banner against the impeachment of Dallagnol on an overpass in Brasília.

Greater care is due to the rigor with which Justice Alexandre de Moraes and other STF colleagues began to assess street demonstrations after January 8th. In the decision that made defendants protesters who were in front of the Army Headquarters, and who, in theory, did not participate in the invasion and depredation of the headquarters of the Powers, Moraes highlighted that they wanted to “abruptly modify the current regime and the rule of law” , as well as “inflating the Armed Forces to take power and the population, to subvert the political and social order, also generating animosities between the Armed Forces and republican institutions”.

For analysts consulted by the report, demonstrations of this content are prohibited by the STF. Moraes himself, in voting to receive the complaint, stated that “it is not any critical manifestation that can be typified”. “Free discussion, broad political participation and the democratic principle are intertwined with freedom of expression, having as their object not only the protection of thoughts and ideas, but also opinions, beliefs, value judgments and criticism of public agents, in order to guarantee the real participation of citizens in collective life”, wrote the minister.

He explained that demonstrations that seek to destroy “republican institutions by preaching violence, arbitrariness, disrespect for the Separation of Powers and fundamental rights are criminal, in short, pleading for tyranny, arbitrariness, violence and the breach of republican principles ”.

The public defender of the União Gustavo de Almeida Ribeiro, who defends several defendants of the 8th of January, assesses that the ministers of the STF will be attentive to the manifestation of 4th of June. But he understands that if only criticism is expressed, even to a TSE decision, there is no problem. But if there are threats, there is a risk of criminal charges, such as someone carrying banners with ‘death to so-and-so’, ‘must break everything’ or people preaching the destruction of the court. “Criticism and booing, no. But words in the sense of preaching violence against the Rapporteur of the Deltan case, yes, it can generate some type of criminal framework”, he summarizes.

Bruno Jordano, a lawyer who also defends defendants on January 8th, recalls that the right to peaceful demonstrations and to notify the police are guaranteed by the Constitution. “I think that the demonstration, as long as it is peaceful, without weapons, in a public place, cannot be deliberately confused, nor have extensive interpretation, to criminalize it. If not, we would be suppressing what the constitutional text says. The demonstration in support of Deltan is legitimate, however much it goes against the court decision”, he says.