PF points out “targeted policing” of the PRF in the Northeast in the 2nd round

In the investigation that resulted in the arrest of the former general director of the Federal Highway Police Silvinei Vasques, the Federal Police (PF) captured messages and cell phone images of some of his former colleagues that indicate that there had been “targeted policing” by the corporation, on the day of the 2nd round of elections last year, in cities in the Northeast where President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) had more votes than former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the first round.

Silvinei was arrested this Wednesday (9), by order of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, on suspicion of having coordinated an operation to make it difficult for Lula voters to arrive at polling stations, by reinforcing inspections of passenger transport on the region’s highways. Northeast on polling day.

He is being investigated for allegedly committing the following crimes:

• prevarication, which consists of performing an act against the express provision of the law, to satisfy personal interests or feelings;
• political violence, which means restricting, preventing or hindering, with the use of physical, sexual or psychological violence, the exercise of political rights to any person based on their gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion or national origin;
• prevent or hinder the exercise of suffrage (electoral crime);
• conceal, withhold, hoard or refuse, on election day, the supply, normally to everyone, of utilities, food and means of transport, or grant exclusivity thereof to a particular party or candidate (electoral crime);
• omitting data or information or disclosing incomplete data or information to divert the course of the investigation, diligence or process (crime of abuse of authority).

Together, the penalties can exceed 10 years in prison, in case of conviction.

In the arrest request, the PF attached photos captured on WhatsApp by delegate Marília Alencar, then director of intelligence at the Ministry of Justice, showing tables and location of cities where Lula had more than 75% of the votes. Look:

In other prints, there are photos of tables listing cities in Goiás and Minas Gerais:

On the delegate’s cell phone, a spreadsheet was also found listing 19 cities in Bahia, with the number of teams that would be mobilized for each of them, also informing the number of voters and the reach in the state:

All these messages were sent on the morning of October 17, when, according to the PF, Marília had a meeting with the then Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres.

Also according to the PF, another indication of the direction of the inspection was found in a message from Adiel Alcântara, then coordinator of Intelligence Analysis at the PRF. In a conversation on October 29, the eve of the second round, with one of his subordinates, Paulo César Botti Alves Júnior, Alcântara would have criticized Silvinei for having determined a “targeted policing” and said “a lot of shit” during meetings of management. Look:

The PF investigation draws attention to a meeting of the Superior Council of the Federal Highway Police that took place on the night of October 19, where directors, superintendents and all PRF general coordinators would be present. Silvinei himself told the PF that “the use of cell phones was prohibited, as council meetings were leaking”. Later, he would have participated in another meeting with the then Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres. The PF suspects that these meetings discussed details of inspection in the 2nd shift.

Silvinei Vasques denies that inspection was to hinder voter access

At the CPMI on January 8, in Congress, Silvinei Vasques denied that vehicle inspections had been intensified in the Northeast to make it difficult for Lula voters to access polling places. “This is not true. It is not true because the Brazilian Northeast is the region where we have the most PRF infrastructure in Brazil”, she told parliamentarians, on June 20.

“We have 13,000 police, most of our police were also supporters of President Lula. In addition, it is an impossible crime, which did not occur, there is no way”, said the former director. On the same occasion, he criticized colleagues who hinted at this accusation. “These police officers who disclosed it are cowards, they broke the oath of the institution”.

In a statement to the PF, delegate Marília Alencar confirmed that she asked a public servant to survey the places where each of the candidates – Lula and Bolsonaro – had more than 75% of the votes in the first round, “comparing with the political parties of the respective mayors of each municipality in the whole of Brazil, which could be indicative of vote buying depending on the information received”.

She reported having given this data to Anderson Torres. She denied, however, that there had been any action by the Directorate of Intelligence to prevent voters from voting.

In a statement to the PF, Anderson Torres confirmed that he dealt with Silvinei about inspection on the highways, who would have told him that “the PRF’s performance was normal, even escorting vehicles that would be without traffic conditions to guarantee the right to vote ”. He also stated that the PRF had autonomy to carry out operational planning in the elections and that he, as Minister of Justice, “had no authority to veto the operational planning of any institution”.

Torres also said that he did not take data from places with votes greater than 75% of PRF candidates, “believing that there was not even dissemination through intelligence channels”. According to him, Silvinei would have told him that the PRF’s action in the 2nd round “was practically the same as in the first round, with no direction taken”.

Operation in the Northeast

In the request for Silvinei’s arrest, the PF also gathered data that show a more incisive action by the PRF in the Northeast, on October 30, the date of the second round. The region received a staff of 795 police; followed by the Southeast, with 528; South, with 418; Midwest, with 381; and North, with 230 police officers.

From October 29th to 30th, the PRF detained 48 buses in the Northeast region, 9 in the Southeast, 8 in the Midwest, 5 in the North and 4 in the South. In the same period, 2,185 buses were inspected in the Northeast, 893 in the Midwest , 632 in the South region, 571 in the Southeast and 310 in the North region.

The PRF also mobilized more resources for the Northeast than for other regions in Operation Elections 2022: BRL 997.2 thousand. In the Southeast, R$ 685.7 thousand were spent; in the Midwest, R$ 545.4 thousand; in the South, 526.5 thousand; and in the North, R$ 313.2 thousand.