STF forms majority to make 131 more defendants by 8/1 – 05/29/2023 – Power

The STF (Federal Supreme Court) formed a majority this Monday (29) to indict 131 more people for their participation in the coup attacks on January 8.

Ministers Dias Toffoli, Cármen Lúcia, Gilmar Mendes, Rosa Weber and Edson Fachin voted in favor. They followed the understanding of the reporting minister of the cases, Alexandre de Moraes, who voted in favor of receiving the complaints.

Ministers Kassio Nunes Marques and André Mendonça, who were appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), voted against receiving the allegations.

The accused are in the group of suspects of having incited the animosity of the Armed Forces against the Powers, in criminal association.

They were arrested on the morning of January 9th, in the coup camp set up in front of the Army headquarters in Brasília, and are part of the group called inciters, with no direct involvement in the vandalism of buildings.

The analysis is carried out in a virtual plenary, the Supreme Court’s platform where ministers cast their votes. The trial session runs until the end of this Monday.

This is the sixth round of judgment of the complaints presented by the PGR (Attorney General of the Republic) against suspects of the acts that culminated in the depredation of the headquarters of the three Powers.

Currently, 1,044 suspects involved in the attack on the three Powers have already become defendants.

The smallest part, 225, are accused of being directly involved with the destruction of the Congress, Planalto and Supreme buildings. The remainder is part of the inquiry involving the instigators.

The court opened 100, 200, 250, 245 and 249 criminal actions, respectively, against those involved. If the complaints from the last round are accepted, there will be 1,175 defendants in total.

In all, 1,390 people were denounced by the PGR for involvement in the attacks. In statements about the case, the Attorney General’s Office stated that there was a set of evidence to support the accusation, such as images, messages and testimonies.

The material points to the existence of a stable and permanent situation of an association formed by hundreds of people to attack the institutions.

In his vote, Moraes justified that conduct and demonstrations are unconstitutional when they have the “clear purpose of controlling or even annihilating the strength of critical thinking, indispensable to the democratic regime”.

He also mentioned that the acts were intended to destroy republican institutions, “preaching violence, arbitration, disrespect for the separation of powers and fundamental rights”

“In short, pleading tyranny, arbitrariness, violence and the breach of republican principles, as verified by the criminal manifestations now imputed to the accused”, he said, in one of the cases.