RJ court takes more than 72 hours to release journalist after STF order

Even with a release permit issued on October 20th, as determined by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF, journalist Allan Frutuozo remains imprisoned in the Benfica penitentiary, in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. The information was confirmed to People’s Gazette by the journalist’s lawyer late this Tuesday morning (24).

According to the journalist’s defense, the deadline established by law for complying with the permit would be 24 hours. Frutuozo was arrested at Galeão Airport, in Rio de Janeiro, on July 27, when he tried to fly with his family to Argentina.

At the time, the journalist was detained by federal agents for around five hours while awaiting the arrival of the arrest warrant. The Federal Police had an alert in its system to detain him, but without justification.

Frutuozo has been imprisoned for almost three months by order of Minister Alexandre de Moraes for his alleged involvement in the bomb attacks at the Federal Police headquarters, on December 12 last year, in Brasília.

In a note sent to the press, the journalist’s defense denies Frutuozo’s involvement in the attack.

“Allan Frutuozo, who was staying at the hotel opposite the Federal Police headquarters, immediately went down to capture some images of the episode when he encountered the sounds of stun bombs, screams and a lot of commotion. Frightened, he promptly started video recording in order to protect his own physical safety. After a few moments he managed to leave the place without being the target of any violence, nor the perpetrator of any criminal offense (damage to public property, offenses, incitement to crime, etc.). In the meantime, Allan Frutuozo didn’t even get close to the Federal Police entrance”, says an excerpt from the note.

Wanted by Gazeta do Povo, the journalist’s defense said that the Rio de Janeiro Court’s delay in complying with Minister Alexandre de Moraes’ decision is not justified.

“This abuse, this delay is completely unjustifiable […] On duty refuses to comply with the release permit? They said that the responsibility would be part of the regular office hours and that it is not a matter of duty,” said lawyer Luis Renato.

Renato also informed Gazeta that the defense intends to seek compensation. The lawyer studies the possibility of administrative liability and compensation for moral damage.

In the decision, Moraes conditioned the journalist’s release on compliance with the following precautionary measures:

1 – Prohibition of being absent from the District and retirement
at home at night and on weekends using an electronic ankle bracelet;
2 – Obligation to appear before the Execution Court of the District of origin, within 48 hours and appear weekly, every Monday;
3 – Prohibition of being absent from the country, with the obligation to hand over their passports to the Execution Court of the District of origin, within 05 days;
4 – Cancellation of all passports issued by the Brazilian authority;
5 – Immediate suspension of any firearm possession documents;
6 – Prohibition of the use of social networks and;
7 – Prohibition of communicating with others involved, by any means.

Wanted by People’s Gazette to comment on the delay in complying with the journalist’s release order, the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJ-RJ) and the Office of Minister Alexandre de Moraes did not respond by the time this article was written. The newspaper remains open for any statements from the TJ-RJ and the minister’s office about the case.