Mauro Cid’s new lawyer says he is doubly wronged and was just following orders

The new lawyer who defends Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid in the inquiries he responds to, such as the alleged sale of official gifts and tampering with the vaccination card of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), says he is doubly wronged by the arrest and that, if he did what he did, it was just following orders due to his military background respecting the hierarchy.

Cezar Bitencourt is the third jurist to defend Bolsonaro’s former aide in recent months, and an expert in award-winning whistleblowing. In the past, he was known for defending former adviser to former President Michel Temer (MDB), Rodrigo Rocha Loures, in the case where he was caught carrying a suitcase with R$ 500,000 in cash in 2017.

The lawyer claims that he was hired by a family member of Mauro Cid on Tuesday night (15th) and that he is still learning about the entire inquiry to which the lieutenant colonel responds. He will have a meeting with the military and family at the end of this Wednesday afternoon (16), but he has already said that he will still discuss the possibility of making an award-winning agreement.

“I still don’t know him, I haven’t had any contact. I have my convictions, but I will talk to the customer about this situation [delação premiada]”, he said in an interview with GloboNews in the morning.

Despite not yet defining whether he will suggest an agreement, Bitencourt said that the defense strategy is to prove that Mauro Cid was only following orders from above due to his military background, which “respects the hierarchy”.

“He is a military man, but he is an advisor. Advisor carries out orders from boss. Military with even more reason, whereas a civilian can go astray. But the military is trained in this hierarchical obedience. So, someone ordered, someone determined”, he explained, noting that if he did something illegal, there are “exclusions” who can exempt him due to hierarchical obedience.

Bitencourt says he sees Mauro Cid’s arrest at the Army Police Battalion in Brasília, since May 3, as unfair due to the circumstances of the detention. “He is doubly wronged, because he is unduly withdrawn into the Army. Normally, when people, senators, politicians, these important people are transferred to a military garrison, they have freedom within it. It is absurd that [Mauro Cid] be locked up inside a cell inside the Army”, he justified.

Still according to the lawyer, the defense strategy will also be to present the career of Mauro Cid, the decorated and respected military professional who had his limitations when fulfilling the function he exercised at the Planalto Palace.