Moraes and Dino want 14 years in prison for Gabriela Ritter’s father

The Federal Police (PF) report regarding the elderly Miguel Fernando Ritter, aged 61, states that there is no expert evidence that he committed a crime during the acts of January 8, 2023 — such as images from video surveillance cameras, genetic profile or fingerprint samples found in the buildings of the Republic’s powers. However, minister Alexandre de Moraes voted to sentence him to 14 years in prison.

The virtual trial began last Friday (22) and, until this Wednesday morning (26), the rapporteur’s vote had been followed by ministers Flávio Dino and Carmen Lúcia, who decided on the same penalty. The other eight ministers have until April 3 to speak out.

According to the PF report, that the People’s Gazette had access, the only data regarding the elderly person is that his name appears on the passenger list of one of the buses that traveled from Santa Rosa, in Rio Grande do Sul, to Brasília, on January 6, 2023, in order to participate of the demonstrations.

“This puts my father on the same level as the 8/1 prisoners who received a three-year sentence because there was no evidence against them,” says lawyer Gabriella Ritter, who is president of the Association of Families and Victims of January 8 (Asfav ) and questions the votes. “Why do they want to sentence my father to 14 years in prison if there is nothing to incriminate him?”

According to her, the information cited in the process comes from the elderly man’s own testimony, imprisoned inside Palácio do Planalto. “He had no weapons and entered the building to take shelter. [das bombas de gás lacrimogêneo e balas de borracha]so he met the requirements to be sentenced, perhaps, to three years”, he states, characterizing the sentence given to his father as “clear persecution”.

In the elderly man’s testimony, which is cited in the minister’s vote, Miguel states that he arrived in the Federal District on January 8, 2023 with plans to return to his city within two days. He reports that he participated in the demonstrations peacefully and that he went up the Planalto ramp to “try to talk” with Army soldiers who were inside the building, at which point the first bombs began to explode.

Furthermore, he stated that he went to Brasília with the aim of “praying for the country” and that he underwent a police search to confirm that he was not armed. “My father’s backpack only had water, clothes, a rosary and an umbrella,” his daughter wrote in a post on social media about the possible conviction. “Moraes is being a dictator”, she added, referring to the minister’s vote.

To condemn Miguel, Moraes cites a “multitudinous crime”

In his vote, Moraes condemns Miguel for the crimes of armed criminal association, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, attempted coup d’état, qualified damage due to violence and serious threat – with the use of flammable substances – and deterioration of listed property. The argument is that the elderly man had contributed to a “multitudinous crime”, in which everyone present at the scene should be held responsible for the damage.

In the “presence of the materiality of multitudinous crimes, the co-authorship of Miguel Fernando Ritter is fully proven by the evidence in the case”, states the vote. “Therefore, it is clear that he was in the federal capital on January 8 to participate in coup acts aimed at the extinction of the Democratic Rule of Law”, continues Moraes.

The defense, however, guarantees that Miguel did not incite the crowd or demonstrate criminal conduct. “The accused, a person of no influence in society, did not and still does not have the slightest ability to try to abolish the Democratic Rule of Law”, he argues in quote presented in the minister’s vote.

Still according to the defense, stating that there was an attempted coup due to the damage caused to the empty buildings of the Três Poderes “would be the same as considering that there was an attempted kidnapping in a residence while the owner of the place was not even in the city”, he compares. “In other words, a crime impossible to execute.”

Lawyers for 8/1 defendants criticize “mob crime” thesis

Other lawyers defending 8/1 prisoners have also criticized the existence of multitudinous crimes, as testimonies such as that of Major José Eduardo Natale showed that there were “heterogeneous groups”, with different attitudes, during the acts.

Furthermore, “the figure of the ‘multitudinous crime’ is unconstitutional, since it violates the principle of presumption of innocence and the individualization of the penalty”, states lawyer Ezequiel Silveira, explaining further that the fact that someone is in the vicinity of a crime does not make you guilty either. “Such a situation is legally untenable, as there is no ‘geographical’ adherence to criminal practice.”

Miguel Ritter is also the target of another lawsuit related to 8/1

In addition to the trial for crimes committed in public buildings in Brasília on January 8, the father of lawyer Gabriela Ritter is also being investigated in a second investigation related to the facts. The gaucho was one of the targets of search and seizure carried out by the Federal Police (PF) on January 8 of this year, in the 23rd phase of Operation Lesa Pátria.

For Gabriela, the search of the rooms in her father’s house and the new interrogation were attempts at “evidence fishing” as there was no evidence to incriminate him. In fact, “the first question they asked was whether he had a party option, something that is a free choice of people and could never be questioned because it is something of conscience”, he points out, denouncing the situation as a “violation of human rights and which directs this process as extremely political.”

The lawyer states that she has not yet had access to the new investigation to understand the content of the action, but believes that it is yet another attempt to intimidate the work of those who have been fighting against the illegalities committed by the Judiciary. But “I’m not going to stop Alexandre. I won’t,” she concluded in a statement on Instagram.