Lula compares alleged Moraes attackers to “wild animals”

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said, this Wednesday morning (19), that the alleged perpetrators of attacks on Minister Alexandre de Moraes last week, in Rome, are comparable to a “wild animal”. The statement was given during a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, shortly before flying back to Brazil.

According to the president, it is necessary to “severely punish people who still transmit hatred, like the citizen who attacked Minister Alexandre de Moraes at the airport in Rome”.

“Such a citizen is a wild animal, not a human being. The citizen may not agree with the person, but he doesn’t have to be aggressive, he doesn’t have to swear,” he said.

Lula went on to criticize the minister’s alleged aggressors saying that “these people who were reborn in the neo-fascism put into practice in Brazil have to be extirpated, and we are going to be very tough with these people so that they learn to return to being civilized”.

The couple suspected of having attacked Moraes and his son at the Rome airport, last Friday (14), gave testimony this Tuesday (18) to the Federal Police and was the target of a search and seizure operation in the afternoon. The defense of Roberto and Andréia Mantovani said that “despite everything”, they are certain that “justice will prevail after the investigations are closed”.

In a note, attorney Ralph Tórtima Stettinger Filho said that the Mantovani hearing lasted more than seven hours. According to the defense, Andreia and Roberto stated that they saw the minister “for seconds” and did not offend him.

The defense reinforced that the two are confident that the images from the airport will prove their version of what happened. In addition, the lawyer pointed out all the investigation procedures to which the couple was subjected and stated that they “despite everything, continue to believe in the Federal Police, the Federal Public Ministry and the Judiciary, certain that Justice will prevail after the closure of investigations.