Processes in the wake of June 2013 had illegal evidence – 06/12/2023 – Power

The lawsuits opened due to arrests made during demonstrations in Rio de Janeiro between June 2013 and July 2014 pointed to the use of a series of illegal evidence and resulted, in most cases, in the acquittal of the accused.

A group of 23 activists, arrested on the eve of the World Cup, are appealing their conviction on charges of criminal association for violent acts in protests and corruption of minors. The collector Rafael Braga, a black man, is one of the few prosecuted with a definitive sentence for an arrest in flagrante delicto in the demonstrations.

The arrests of activists during this period were the target of criticism from human rights defenders. The police, in turn, claimed to act in reaction to the action of the so-called black blocs, a group of masked people who promoted depredation of public and private buildings in the acts.

After a year of acts of vandalism, the police carried out an operation to arrest 23 accused of organizing violent acts. The arrest warrants were served on the eve of the 2014 World Cup final.

Later court decisions pointed to the use of a series of illegal evidence in the course of the investigation.

The STJ (Superior Court of Justice) considered the wiretapping made against lawyers of the protesters to be irregular. It was authorized by judge Flávio Itabaiana against defenders who had, in his assessment, suspicious attitudes.

“Only those who remained with the protesters, full-time, in protests and occupation movements of violent acts, without receiving fees, and those who summoned the protesters to the occupations, showed suspicious attitudes and contrary to what was established in the Code of Ethics of the OAB by encouraging criminal practices.”

Minister Sebastião Reis Junior, rapporteur of the case at the STJ, understood, however, that the absence of a financial link between lawyer and client does not change the defense relationship of the accused.

“It scares me that I am present at the representation approved by the judge of the affirmative fact, which allows me to think that ‘pro bono’ advocacy, coupled with participation in demonstrations, is now seen as a crime.”

The STF (Federal Supreme Court), in turn, ordered the extraction from the list of evidence of the testimony of a police officer from the National Security Force who acted undercover in the group of demonstrators.

Minister Gilmar Mendes, rapporteur for the case, understood that the agent did not have, as required by law, judicial authorization to carry out the procedure. The infiltration, for the Supreme, could only serve to produce intelligence reports in order to assist in the security planning of the demonstrations, and not as evidence in a criminal action.

The Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro also considered illegal the apprehension of explosive material made, according to the police, in the house of philosophy professor Camila Jourdan on the day of the arrests.

She was sentenced in another case to six years in prison for the crime of possessing an explosive device without authorization. The judges annulled the sentence because the police did not have a search warrant when they searched the teacher’s apartment, which is why they could not carry out an apprehension without a flagrante delicto.

The teacher’s defense denies that she kept the explosives at home.

Despite the annulments of the evidence, Itabaiana considered that testimonies and wiretapping still valid from the investigation were sufficient for the conviction of the 23 accused. Penalties ranged from 5 to 7 years in prison.

Already 64 demonstrators arrested in October 2013 on suspicion of having promoted vandalism and set fire to vehicles after protests by teachers in the center were acquitted due to the weaknesses of the evidence presented.

The arrests in flagrante delicto carried out in front of City Hall were based on the law on criminal organizations, sanctioned two months earlier by former President Dilma Rousseff (PT) as a reaction to the demonstrations.

One of those arrested was Jair Seixas Rodrigues, known as Baiano. The activist was arrested on suspicion of having set fire to two vehicles.

Baiano was imprisoned for two months as a result of the accusation. At the end of the process, the MP-RJ (Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro) considered that there was no evidence against the activist. The prosecution saw contradiction in the statements of the police officers involved.

“The actions that the defendant effectively practiced during the demonstration, as the supposed leader of the group that damaged the vehicles, remained vague, frivolous and helpless as criminal acts. Someone shouting and gesticulating in a political protest is something perfectly common and expected and could have been , surely, attributed to thousands of people during the march”, wrote the MP-RJ when asking for Baiano’s acquittal.

The brothers Matheus and Douglas Silva Pontes and a minor under 18 who accompanied them were also acquitted of the crime in the second instance. According to the police, the teenager was carrying a bottle of gasoline in his backpack.

“Even if the accused had some intention of committing a crime using gasoline, we cannot rule out the possibility of repentance and withdrawal to act contrary to the law and punish them only for preparatory acts. the future, which, as we know, is not possible”, wrote judge João Ziraldo Maia.

Better luck didn’t have the collector Rafael Braga, a homeless person arrested in June 2013 with two plastic bottles with flammable material, according to police expertise.

Although the report indicated the liquid’s low explosive capacity, the Court understood that the material’s incendiary capacity was enough to sentence him to 4 years in prison. He was the first detained in the protests to be convicted by Justice.

“You don’t even need to be an expert to conclude that a bottle, even a plastic one, containing a flammable substance (ethanol) and with a wick in its neck has an incendiary capacity when activated by a call.”

Rafael’s defense intends to request a criminal review of the case.

The process against the two accused of killing cameraman Santiago Andrade with a rocket during a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro has been practically at a standstill for almost three years, awaiting reports from the Civil Police.

The session of the Jury Court to judge Fábio Raposo Barbosa and Caio Silva de Souza was scheduled four years ago for July 2019. Éboli) in sending an opinion on the investigation material postponed the trial, now scheduled for December.