PT tried to overturn action against the PCC in the STF

Senator Sergio Moro (União-PR) demanded explanations from the Workers’ Party for a party action before the Federal Supreme Court (STF) that tried to overturn a measure aimed at combating the criminal faction Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC).

The PT wanted to use the STF to end two ordinances from the Ministry of Justice, one from 2019, which tightened the rules for social visits in maximum security federal prisons; and another from 2017, which banned intimate visits in federal prisons. It was through visits that the PCC leaders, all of whom were arrested, passed on orders to their subordinates who were free.

ADPF 518 was presented in 2018 by the NGO Anjos da Liberdade, which questioned the 2017 norm, when Michel Temer (MDB) was president. The PT joined as author only in August 2019, when the ordinance of former Minister Sergio Moro also started to be questioned in the process.

According to the investigation by the Federal Police into the PCC’s attack plan against Moro and other authorities, the criminal organization hoped that this action would put an end to the stricter rules for intimate visits, which ended up harming the criminals’ illicit business. The details of the investigation came to light on Thursday (23).

The gang’s objective, according to the PF, was to return to “allowing the transfer of illegal orders” from inside the prisons. The process, however, was terminated on March 7. However, there are no indications that the PCC had an influence on the PT’s decision to file a lawsuit with the STF.

Moro says that the PT owes an explanation from Brazil about the action in the STF

“In light of the latest events and President Lula’s speeches, the PT owes an explanation to Brazil about its participation as author in the ADPF 518 with the STF, when it tried to overturn the prohibition made by the MJ of intimate visits to the leaders of the PCC and the CV [Comando Vermelho] in federal prisons”, recalled the senator and former Minister of Justice.

“The disaster was avoided only because the STF extinguished the action and protected society against crime”, he added, referring to a decision by Minister Edson Fachin.

A People’s Gazette tried to get in touch with the PT’s press office and is awaiting a position from the party’s president, federal deputy Gleisi Hoffman (PR).

The process was closed because the cause lost its purpose after the rules of the ordinance were replaced by the laws of the “anti-crime package”, Moro’s main agenda when he was Minister of Justice for Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

For the PT and the NGO Anjos da Liberdade, which was also the author of the action, the rules “would violate fundamental precepts” and would be an “inhuman policy”. They claimed that ordinance 157/2019 forced delations, punished the families of prisoners and violated the secrecy of communication between lawyers and clients and, therefore, would be “incompatible with the precepts and fundamental guarantees of the Constitution”.

The NGO, accused of links to drug trafficking, also asked that the case not be closed, alleging that the legislation in the anti-crime package “aggravated the effects” of previous rules. The PT, in turn, recognized that, with the entry into force of the anti-crime package, the analysis of the merits of the action was impaired.

The Anjos da Liberdade Institute is still trying to reverse the decision that extinguished the ADPF. The NGO’s lawyers filed a complaint against Fachin’s decision, but Minister Luiz Fux denied the request. On March 15, they appealed again, alleging that Fachin, by extinguishing the process, “usurped” the voting rights of other court ministers who had not voted on the issue after a request for a review by Minister Alexandre de Moraes.