Moraes sentences 57-year-old housewife to 14 years

In a virtual trial since last Tuesday (26), two women arrested after the acts of January 8, in Brasília, could be sentenced to 14 years in prison, as voted by Minister Alexandre de Moraes. Until this Friday afternoon (29), ministers Edson Fachin and Rosa Weber were also in favor of the arrest, with eight votes remaining for the final decision. “I am not a criminal, and I ask the illustrious ministers to have compassion”, says Dona Jupira Silvana da Cruz Rodrigues, 57 years old.

A resident of Betim, in Minas Gerais, she attends the Baptist church, has been married for over 30 years, has three children, four grandchildren and takes care of a boy with an irreversible mental disorder. “My family has suffered a lot with what is happening,” says the woman, who has been imprisoned for seven months since being detained in Praça dos Três Poderes. She is currently on provisional release using an electronic ankle bracelet.

According to defense lawyer Hélio Junior, “it is unacceptable for a good person to be convicted of the crimes accused”, since “she entered the Palácio do Planalto only to protect herself from stun bombs and rubber bullets” and that “ she was unarmed, and it is unimaginable that she tried to carry out or participate in any coup d’état or abolish the democratic rule of law”.

Furthermore, the jurist states that “there is no evidence of any act of vandalism, not even suggesting that Ms. Jupira agreed to such deplorable acts”, as she “always vehemently repudiated acts of vandalism”.

Like her, the second woman on trial by the STF is community agent Nilma Lacerda Alves, who has worked as a municipal civil servant in the city of Barreiras, in Bahia, for 20 years. Mother of a daughter and grandmother of a one and a half year old granddaughter, Nilma also works at night and on weekends as a caregiver for the elderly and selling semi-jewelry.

“My mother always fought to build her things, fight for her dreams and give me all the opportunities she didn’t have”, says her daughter – who preferred to remain anonymous. “My mother has been going through very difficult times, alone and wronged.”

According to the young woman, when Nilma traveled to Brasília in January, her granddaughter was six months old, without any teeth and starting to crawl. “When I return [da prisão], Livia was already walking, with her little mouth full of teeth and communicating, but she no longer recognized her grandmother”, says the young woman, emotionally, when appealing for justice. “May innocent and hard-working people not be punished, as they have their commitments and are a support network for people who need it”, she adds.

According to defense lawyer Hélio Junior, Nilma “never suffered any administrative process or disciplinary liability, nor did she respond to criminal proceedings. “She is a good person who was arrested at Palácio do Planalto when she was still shouting for vandals not to break public property,” he said. “She didn’t even move inside that building, remaining only on the entry list”, he adds.

“Sentences were copied and pasted”, says the lawyer

However, the defense explains that Nilma and Jupira were sentenced without individualizing their conduct, with “copied and pasted sentences” and that “they were unjustly convicted without any proof of acts of vandalism or participation in the most hostile groups”, states Hélio Junior.

Moraes’ report states that both would have participated in an armed criminal association, violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d’état, qualified damage through violence and serious threat, with the use of flammable substances, and also deterioration of listed property.

“With all the agents united by a subjective bond, acting with equal purposes and contributing with each other to the common collective criminal work, he attempted, with the use of violence and serious threats, to abolish the Democratic Rule of Law, preventing or restricting the exercise of Constitutional Powers”, says the text.

“On the same January 8, 2023, the accused deteriorated and contributed to the deterioration of assets specially protected by an administrative act”, he continues, further stating that “by joining the crowd, the accused adhered to her intentional objectives of assisting, provoke and fan the turmoil, with the intention of taking power and destroying the Palácio do Planalto, the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court”.

For the lawyer, this “is an absolutely generic complaint” and shows that the conviction is “unjust, immoral and illegal, which regrettably led to the largest political prison in the history of humanity”, he concluded.