Gilmar sees Lula’s excessive tolerance for scammers – 09/05/2023 – Politics

Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), criticized the way in which the Lula government reacted to the coup camps in the first days of its mandate and stated that it was compromising with an illegal mobilization.

Defense Minister José Múcio Monteiro, even before the January 8 attacks, even said that he had family and friends who frequented these camps and resisted articulating an eviction from the occupied areas in the vicinity of barracks. The withdrawal of the protesters only occurred after an order from the STF, already after the attacks.

According to Gilmar, “on January 1st, with the new government, this [acampamentos] should have been terminated”.

“The Minister of Defense considered that the military would resolve this and that there were also many military personnel there, family members of military personnel and things like that. I think there was excessive tolerance. And it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense, that has to be very clear, demonstrate in front of the barracks”, he said, in an interview with the program Roda Viva, on TV Cultura, on Monday night (8).

Gilmar said that it was a mistake “that few censored” and that there was “excessive protection” for the participants, which “needs to be explained”.

In the interview, the minister also defended the existence of the so-called fake news inquiry, opened in 2019 at the Supreme Court, and said that, without this investigation, “there would have been an institutional derailment”.

He said that former President Jair Bolsonaro bears “unequivocal political responsibility” for the events of January 8, but that legal responsibility is still being investigated.

He also said that “there was a bet on chaos” and that the Bolsonaro government was with “the GLO agenda” (Guarantee of Law and Order, authorized operations of the Armed Forces), even citing a conversation with former Minister of Justice Anderson Torres, arrested today. “The GLO agenda was in those heads.”

Gilmar made several criticisms of the Bolsonaro government, stating that the Supreme Court hindered his plans. “But it got in the way for good”, he said, in reference to acting in the pandemic.

The magistrate was questioned on the program about the positions of the two ministers appointed by Bolsonaro in the court, Kassio Nunes Marques and André Mendonça, who have differed from colleagues on issues such as coup attacks.

The minister said that he does not consider that there is a fissure in the court, but stated: “I hope that in a future that is not so remote, these people will make an assessment and an eventual self-criticism. Because here we are not discussing public policies or models, if I am the favor of privatization, [por exemplo]. We are discussing the civilizing process.”

The minister was also asked about a possible court decision regarding the regulation of social networks. Last week, Minister Dias Toffoli released action on the subject, amid the postponement of the vote in the Chamber of the so-called PL of Fake News.

Gilmar stated that “it is a very complex issue to be regulated within the Judiciary” and that he considers that it will be resolved in the Legislature. He also criticized what he called a “worrying consortium” between big techs and the Bolsonarist bench.

A well-known critic of Lava Jato, the magistrate again attacked the operation at various times during the interview.

In the end, he said: “I used to think it was fantastic that PT lawyers and many PT leaders say that the Americans got into this mess [a Lava Jato]. Today I no longer find it so implausible that there was such a combination. I do not find it implausible that sectors have become involved in this issue”.