MPF asks Armed Forces to apologize for acts of the bicentennial in Copacabana

The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) filed a public civil action against the Union for the omission or insufficient adoption of due diligence and preventive measures of self-restraint in carrying out the civic-military commemorations of the bicentennial of the Independence of Brazil, held on September 7th of last year, in Copacabana, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ). The event, which was attended by former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), gathered hundreds of thousands of people on the waterfront.

In the action, filed last Friday (24), the MPF alleges that the public demonstration was used as a political platform for former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), then a candidate for re-election. The MPF calls for the Union to be condemned and for damages to be repaired through specific measures, such as a public apology, preparation of a detailed report on the facts, with the possible adoption of appropriate disciplinary measures in relation to all those involved, and specific and preventive preventive measures, such as the general and abstract regulation of celebrations, the definition of the place of celebration in Rio de Janeiro – with the prohibition of camping in front of military institutions – and training on democracy and human rights for the military.

Military failed to take action

The MPF also points out that the commanders of the Navy, Army and Air Force failed to adopt concrete and effective measures to ensure that the celebration did not serve as a platform for party-political manifestation in favor of the political group of the then President of the Republic Jair Bolsonaro (PL ).

According to the organ, the commanders of the Armed Forces took decisions that further favored the confusion between the events, such as the transfer of the traditional place of celebration, which before would be on Avenida Presidente Vargas, the installation of space for authorities a few meters from the car of sound of the demonstration on the edge of Copacabana beach, the failure to install equipment that would make the differentiation clear and practically no containment factor regarding the confusion verified.

The official event in celebration of the bicentennial was held on a platform on the corner of Avenida Atlântica and Avenida Rainha Elisabeth (post 6). The party-political demonstration with the presence of Bolsonaro, who spoke in a sound car, took place just three blocks away, on the corner of Avenida Atlântica and Rua Souza Lima (post 5).

For the regional attorneys for Citizens’ Rights, Jaime Mitropoulos, Julio José Araujo Junior and Aline Caixeta, authors of the action, the initial concern of confusion between the two events was confirmed. “Sufficient and effective measures were not adopted to differentiate the civic-military celebrations from the political-party demonstration that took place at the site. In the organization of the event, there was no sufficiently clear physical separation, except for purely operational purposes, since the stage of the official celebration was a few meters from the sound car where there were political demonstrations”, says the lawsuit.

“It is also worth mentioning that the ‘official’ area received the circulation not only of authorities, but also of people applying for elective positions in the elections that would take place in October last year. In other words, it was not possible to distinguish the official event of the party-political demonstration that was taking place”, conclude the prosecutors.

Politicization of the Armed Forces

In the action, the prosecutors also point out the serious consequences of the politicization of the Armed Forces, when addressing the acts of vandalism carried out later, on January 8, 2023. “Analyzing the facts in retrospect, it is not an exaggeration to state that the defendant’s of the celebration of the bicentennial of Brazil’s independence, by favoring the dilution of the event with a party-political demonstration by the then President of the Republic, it stimulated the perception that the Armed Forces would take sides in the political dispute”, says the lawsuit.

“This is one of the serious consequences of the facts described in the present action: by not adopting sufficiently adequate measures to demonstrate neutrality in the political-party dispute and ending up favoring the dilution of events on that singular date, the Union, through the Armed Forces, contributed so that sectors of the population believed that the anti-democratic response to the electoral result would have official support, through a coup or other authoritarian mechanism”, emphasize the prosecutors.

MPF asks for public ceremony with apology

As compensation, the MPF requires that the Union be condemned to carry out a public apology ceremony, in Rio de Janeiro, with wide dissemination and participation of the commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The act must be disclosed in at least two newspapers with large national circulation and be preceded by advertising on radio, television and internet.

“The apology consists of the recognition, by the Brazilian State, expressly and publicly, of responsibility for the partisan character of the celebration of the bicentennial of the Independence of Brazil. A moment that should have been one of union and celebration ended up being contaminated by the political dispute”, details the action.

The MPF also wants a detailed report to be prepared to clarify the facts and identify the entire chain of events that allowed the occurrence of the episodes narrated in the initial petition, with the adoption of the pertinent measures, in case disciplinary offenses involving public agents, who have concurred for acts and omissions.

MPF wants to regulate military participation in festivities

Other points that are included in the request for action are the regulation of the participation of the Armed Forces in festivities with characteristics similar to independence and the holding of a training course for the military to emphasize the principles inherent in the Democratic State of Law, human rights and the political neutrality of the Armed Forces.