“Precautionary measures imposed by Moraes are torture”, say lawyers
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Almost a year after the acts of January 8, around 1,300 people remain on provisional release with orders that restrict the right to travel, access to bank accounts and use of social networks.
“These precautionary measures imposed by Minister Alexandre de Moraes harm human dignity and constitute torture”, say lawyers Ezequiel Silveira and Carolina Siebra, from the Association of Families and Victims of January 8th (Asfav).
According to them, hundreds of people cannot get a job due to restrictions on the time and location required to use electronic ankle bracelets, and families who depended on retirement, for example, are without access to the benefit. “There are people going hungry, and Asfav monitors these people monthly with donations we have received.”
Furthermore, Silveira states that the measures are “abusive and unconstitutional”, because they do not have the objective of ensuring criminal law, preventing the person from escaping or obstructing justice. “What ends up happening is the stigma of society because normally those who wear an ankle bracelet are criminals”, says Carolina Siebra, citing that these people have been treated as “terrorists and dangerous”, causing intense emotional suffering.
According to data from the Federal Supreme Court (STF), 243 individuals were arrested on January 8th in Praça dos Três Poderes, and 1,927 were taken to the National Police Academy the following day, of which 1,152 remained in prison. Little by little, they began to receive provisional release, through the imposition of precautionary measures and, according to data from Asfav, around 20 currently remain in a closed regime.
“In other words, we have more than 1,300 men and women from 8/1 with electronic ankle bracelets, not counting Operation Lesa Pátria”, explains lawyer Carolina Siebra, citing that more than half of these people have been complying with restrictive measures for ten months, as 680 Prisoners received provisional release in mid-February and March.
This long period, according to her, violates a recommendation from the National Council of Justice, which indicates a reassessment of the use of electronic ankle bracelets every 90 days for pre-trial detainees and every 180 for those serving sentences. “This is without taking into account the fact that these people should not have even been arrested”, points out the lawyer, citing as an example the 1,152 people who were in front of the Army Headquarters, in Brasília.
“The sentence for these people has less offensive potential, so much so that they received the possibility of the Penal Non-Prosecution Agreement (ANPP)”, he says. “So, it would not be possible to arrest him in the act that day, but just take him to the police station to sign a detailed statement and release”, continues the specialist in Electoral Law with a focus on political articulation.
“Weekly presentations at the forum didn’t even exist in the judicial system”
Furthermore, another measure imposed on 8/1 prisoners is the weekly presentation to the district judge, something that is not requested even from highly dangerous criminals. “This appearance occurs once a month for the most serious cases, but the minister demanded a weekly presentation for prisoners from 8/1, something that did not even exist in the judicial system”, informs criminal lawyer Ezequiel Silveira. “These are absurd measures that violate the legal system and have greatly harmed these citizens.”
Farmer Sipriano Alves de Oliveira is among them. Wearing an electronic ankle bracelet since August 8th – after seven months in prison – the resident of São Felix do Xingu, in the interior of Pará, travels 300 kilometers of dirt road every Monday, on a motorcycle, to present himself at the forum closer.
“I leave at 5 am, I need to catch a ferry, and I spend almost R$200, without lunch, to get there and back”, says the 47-year-old from Pará. “Not to mention the rainy seasons when the rivers overflow and the roads become impassable,” he continues.
According to him, the situation is also an obstacle to obtaining work opportunities, as he needs to be away for a whole day every week, and depends on daily work on the farm to support his family. “It has been very difficult and, if it weren’t for the donations, we would go hungry”, laments the farmer, who owned a ten-acre plot of land in the region, but was removed from the site by the government on the grounds that it was indigenous land.
“There is a lot of injustice with us,” lamented Sipriano, who has never been a police officer. “I was arrested for demonstrating peacefully in Brasília carrying a flag and my water canteen, and now Moraes wants to sentence me to 14 years in prison.” He is one of 29 prisoners from 8/1 who began being tried last Friday (15).
Precautionary measures block all bank accounts of 8/1 prisoners
In addition to the obligation to present themselves at the forum weekly, the 8/1 prisoners also had their bank accounts blocked, a situation that received great repercussions this week of Christmas Eve after a publication by Senator Cleitinho Azevedo (Rep-MG) on social media.
“I’m here with Cristina, who is a worker and is at the bank to get her money and make her purchases,” he said in the video, mentioning that the woman who appears next to him does not have access to his financial assets because she has the account blocked since April this year, when she received provisional release after being arrested for the acts of 8/1.
“And there are several people like her in Brazil. There are retirees who need to receive their retirement salary and are living off the hook,” she added, asking for an audience with Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
The blocking of accounts also harms businesspeople such as a 32-year-old architect from Ceará who founded a startup in the area of ecological solutions for construction and needs bank transactions to keep the business active.
“Everything I have I invested in this company and it is blocked”, says the resident of Ceará, who managed, with difficulty, to close a contract for 2024, but is unable to receive the value of the services that will be provided. “I can’t move anything in the company because everything is in my name”, he laments, while also mentioning the problems he faces due to the restriction on movement.
8/1 prisoners have difficulty working and cannot go to church
According to lawyer Ezequiel Silveira, this makes it impossible for people to earn a living, as many work in cities in the region and during extended hours during the week, Saturdays and Sundays. “I followed the case of a woman who works in event decoration, for example, who would need authorization to work on weekends because she is a single mother and has a child, but the minister did not authorize her,” he says. “And I have cases of drivers, who need to go to and from cities in the metropolitan region, and also cannot,” he added.
The lawyer also mentions that restrictions on hours and movement violate the religious freedom of these people, who cannot attend services. “These people need to ask for permission to go to church, which is absurd,” he points out, requesting that the precautionary measures be reviewed. “After all, what we are following so far is not justice”, he concludes.
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