Moraes promises senators to speed up the release of January 8 prisoners

Opposition senators participated in an audience of approximately one hour with Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), this Thursday afternoon (2). During the meeting, the minister promised to speed up investigations and the process to identify those truly responsible among the 751 still detained in Brasília as a result of the acts that took place on January 8.

“He (Moraes) informed that he will adopt new measures to speed up the individualization of blame. The expectation is that in 15 to 20 days there will be a large number of releases”, said the leader of the opposition in the Senate, Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), at the end of the meeting. According to him, the magistrate will reinforce the use of joint efforts by the Public Defender’s Office of the Federal District and ask for support from the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) to evaluate requests for release. This resource, he added, will be requested “as many times as necessary”. He also stated that the conversation was amicable and that the senators had the opportunity to express their concerns regarding the individuals who should not be confused with those truly responsible.

Moraes told the parliamentarians, as Marinho reported, that many of those detained in Papuda (men) and Colmeia (women) were not even assisted by a defender and, therefore, have not even formally requested their release or only had defense assistance in the first moments. In that case, the help of public defenders will be worth it.

“As we visited these people in prison, we realized in loco the unusual impact on the prison system of that large number of detainees in the two days and their afflictions with health and food issues”, commented the potiguar senator. On these points, he reported that the acting governor of the DF, Celina Leão (PP), has made an effort to provide “dignified conditions” to prisoners.

Marinho stressed that he defends the punishment of those identified as those who plundered, incited crimes or financed the acts and who, therefore, will have to be imprisoned longer. “Those guilty of barbarism will have to pay for their crimes and not those who committed minor crimes or were just passers-by that night or the day after,” he said.

At the beginning of the week, the opposition leader met with Minister Rosa Weber, president of the STF, to present the opposition’s concerns with the delay in the release of those who only demonstrated in an orderly and democratic manner, and to ask for support for them to have the meeting with Moraes, who presides over the inquiry. “The letter we delivered was attended to quickly, in less than 48 hours”, she stressed.

According to the senator, it is time to calm down and get back to what matters: the federal government’s agenda, so that the opposition can exercise its role of properly inspecting and helping the Executive to do what is best for Brazil.

He assesses that the Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) to be installed in the Chamber and Senate to investigate the acts of January 8 could provide subsidies to improve legislation with regard to events with political motivation.

Senators Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), Tereza Cristina (PP-MS), Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE) and Wellington Fagundes (PL-MT), who left earlier, took part in the meeting at the headquarters of the STF.