‘Guarantee of rights even applies to those who attempted a coup d’état’ – 02/01/2023 – Frederico Vasconcelos

Guarantees of fundamental rights apply to everyone, including those who attempted a coup d’état on January 8, says the national secretary of Justice, lawyer Augusto de Arruda Botelho.

In an interview with Davi Medeiros and Eduardo Kattah, from Estadão, the assistant to the Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, faced criticism of the decisions of STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes and the conditions under which the “largest judicial police operation in history was carried out of the country”, with 1,500 people arrested in one day.

Former president of IDDD (Institute for the Defense of the Right to Defense), Botelho says that Prerogativas, the WhatsApp group in which he participates, should not have influence in the Lula government.

Prerogativas, coordinated by Marco Aurélio de Carvalho, a lawyer specializing in Public Law, was created “to defend the professional prerogatives of lawyers, systematically violated in Brazil by Lava Jato”.

It includes jurists, public defenders, students and representatives of legal professional bodies. Botelho is a qualified person in the government to help the process of rebuilding democracy.

Here are some comments from the lawyer in the interview:

On the decisions of STF Minister Alexandre de Moraes:

“They can be the object of technical criticism, because it is not necessary here that there be unanimity in the interpretation of the law. (…) Did you disagree with the decision of any minister? Appeal, write articles. Do not attack the Court and do not attack the minister “.

On Bolsonarist deputies complaining about the accommodation conditions of prisoners for coup acts in Brasília:

“I am happy that some parliamentarians who never, under any circumstances, had a view of guaranteeing fundamental rights for each and every citizen now, at this moment, make this claim.(…)

Guarantees of fundamental rights, such as the presumption of innocence and due process of law, they apply to absolutely all people, regardless of guilt, regardless of the seriousness of the crime for which they are being investigated or prosecuted, including those who have attempted a coup d’état. State on the 8th of January”.

About the operation on January 8:

“It was the biggest judicial police operation in the country’s history, 1,500 people were arrested in a single day”. (…) Justice was in recess. There were not many judges in Brasilia, there were no lawyers, public defenders. (…) It was an absolutely atypical moment from a logistical and structural point of view. But that is not why fundamental rights and guarantees do not have to be respected”.

On the influence of the Prerogatives in the government:

“No (will have). Prerogatives is an extremely active WhatsApp group, with more than 250 people. I’ve been part of the group for a few years, it’s a plural group, with extremely relevant technical and political discussions. The role of the Prerogativas group, in the In fact, it is not an institutional role, because institutionally the Prerogatives do not exist”.

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