Project that expands the crime of terrorism advances in Congress – 05/10/2023 – Power

The CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) of the Senate approved this Wednesday (10) a bill that equates actions carried out by organized criminal groups with terrorist acts. The proposal goes to the Chamber of Deputies.

The text is the target of criticism from Federal Police delegates for being considered too broad and generated discussion about the possibility of framing social movements, especially the MST (Movement of Landless Rural Workers).

The project was presented by Senator Styvenson Valentim (Podemos-RN) in reaction to the wave of attacks organized by criminal factions in Rio Grande do Norte in March, with the burning of buses and public buildings.

The text’s rapporteur, senator Jorge Kajuru (PSB-GO), one of the vice-leaders of the Lula government (PT), removed from the text that had been approved by the Public Security Commission the section that classified “civil disturbances” as terrorist acts.

With the change, the government decided to vote in favor of the PL (law project), and the CCJ approval was unanimous. The leader of the government in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), said that the theme “generates very strong sensitivity in many segments”, but that the report had reached a good compromise.

The ADPF (National Association of Federal Police Delegates) states in a technical report that the PL will cause “numerous common crimes” to be classified as “terrorist acts”, which, consequently, will overload the PF and Justice.

“The approval of the said PL will result in the classification of numerous common crimes as terrorist acts and, consequently, the overload of the Federal Police and the Federal Justice, which would investigate and judge, respectively, any and all acts that can be minimally equated to the practice of terrorism in Brazil.”

Among other points, the bill states that it equates the conduct of “obstacleing or limiting the free movement of people, goods and services” to an act of terrorism.