“Moraes and STF need to be held responsible”, says lawyer

The lawyer and founder of the Association of Relatives and Victims of January 8th (Asfav), Gabriela Ritter, said that minister Alexandre de Moraes, other ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGU) need to be responsible for the death of businessman Cleriston Pereira, which occurred this Monday (20) while sunbathing in Papuda.

Cleriston suffered a “sudden illness” after being repeatedly denied access to medical treatment. The businessman had a medical report indicating the risk of death and the lawyer’s appeals were ignored by Moraes. Due to comorbidities, Cleriston received a favorable opinion from the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) for Papuda’s departure.

The request for provisional release was forwarded to Moraes at the end of August and was awaiting analysis by the minister. Cleriston was 46 years old, lived in Brasília and leaves behind a wife and two daughters.

“Last week we officiated in Parliament and informed that eight people were in favor of their release. They (the parliamentarians) are collecting signatures to file a letter with the STF. Cleriston was one of eight people. He was working at the family market on the 8th (January) until 4 pm, as shown in the photos in the file. I have been following this case and I saw that the defense also gathered medical reports since January and the report even says that he could have died suddenly at any time. […] He had the opinion for release since September 1st and the minister did not appreciate it, so Moraes, the PGU and the other STF ministers who were complicit in the acts of abuse need to answer for the crimes they are committing against these people” , the lawyer told People’s Gazette.

In July, the Association of Relatives and Victims of 8 January (Asfav) presented a report with a series of violations of the rights of 8/1 prisoners. According to the association, among those arrested were elderly people, people with comorbidities and mothers of underage children, and the majority did not have a criminal record.

In the report delivered to legal experts, Asfav listed 26 violations of the detainees’ rights. One of the lawyers’ main questions is that the cases should be processed in the Federal Court and not in the STF, since prisoners do not have a privileged forum.

“The complaints from the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) are generic, the same for everyone. We used a plagiarism identification system used in educational institutions that showed a comparison of 98% between reports. They are absolutely the same, they just change the person’s name. The decisions [do ministro Moraes] that keep people trapped are also the same. There is no individualization of conduct, no assessment of comorbidities, no assessment of anything. It’s like a batch process,” Ritter said at the time.