“They want to scare Brazilians”, says grandmother sentenced to 14 years by Moraes

“He has done this to us so that people are afraid.” This is what Rosana Maciel Gomes, 50, said, trapped inside the Palácio do Planalto during the events of January 8, when commenting on the latest decisions of Minister Alexandre de Moraes. In her case, Moraes sentenced her to 14 years in prison. The trial, which is in the virtual plenary session of the STF, began last Friday (27). The deadline for the other ministers who make up the Court to comment is next Tuesday (7).

Rosana knows that she could be arrested again and understands that her trial is being used as an instrument of prior censorship, to inhibit any demonstration against authorities. When remembering January 8th, she says that she did not consent to the vandalism and that she only entered Planalto to protect herself from tear gas bombs.

“I don’t believe in this conviction [na legalidade]. They are following the process to scare the Brazilian. So that Brazilians don’t come and demonstrate again”, he reinforces.

Rosana spent seven months in the women’s penitentiary in Brasília, Colmeia. During the time she remained in prison she had no contact with her four grandchildren, who began to suspect that she had died. “They asked to call me and my cell phone was turned off. Then they asked their father: ‘Why doesn’t my grandmother answer me? Did she become a little star?’”, she reports.

The eldest grandson, aged 7, was sent to hospital after feeling ill upon learning of his grandmother’s 14-year sentence. Doctors believe he had a heart arrhythmia. Now, the boy, who was already undergoing treatment with a psychiatrist, is also being monitored by a cardiologist. “He is the closest to me, he is the first grandson. So much so that now he sleeps in bed with me and doesn’t accept sleeping with anyone. He’s very afraid of me leaving and not coming back,” he comments.

Rosana left the Hive with 35 kilos less, depressed and without a job. “My diet was water and crackers,” she says. Now she works as an app driver to support the house. She lives with two daughters and two grandchildren, who she helps raise. In addition to them, Rosana’s mother and uncle, now elderly, count on her care to resolve everything from bank issues to grocery shopping. “They depend on me, during these seven months, they were deprived of a lot of things”, she explains.

“Run away from what, if I hadn’t broken anything?”

On January 6th, Rosana left Goiânia, the city where she lives, and came to Brasília in her own car with two other people. During the time she was in the capital, she slept at one of her children’s houses and spent the day at the camp in front of the General Headquarters. In the same way as other defendants of January 8th report, Rosana says that there was no set time to start the demonstration and that right after lunch people started to descend towards Esplanada dos Ministérios.

Already on the Esplanada, he saw protesters vandalizing the Palácio do Planalto. She was with a group of six elderly women – who were also arrested – and hid under a tree. In an attempt to leave, tear gas bombs were thrown in the direction of the group of ladies who took refuge in the Palácio do Planalto. “There was nowhere else to run, because there was a crowd”, says Rosana.

Upon entering the building, they found the space very deteriorated. At the same time he saw people breaking down and screaming, he found others who were sick or injured. “What was our intention? Helping people who were in there feeling ill, even children. We didn’t think about leaving, but about helping the people who were inside. Soon after, the Army entered and set up a barrier. That’s when we decided to get down on our knees and pray for them to intervene”, he describes. Outside, the police threw tear gas bombs in an attempt to force the protesters into a corner.

“The idea of ​​running away didn’t come to my mind. Run away from what, if I hadn’t broken anything? I was in there to protect myself”, says Rosana. She further explains that she cooperated with the police from the first moment because she had nothing to hide. “I handed over my cell phone and gave my cell phone password. I still drew. I made the dots and drew what the password was. If I owed something, would I give my password?”, she questions.

According to major, protesters helped contain vandals

Hélio Junior, Rosana’s defense lawyer, claimed in an oral argument attached to the case that there was not a single criminal conduct pointed out against the defendant, just the mention, without evidence, that she had contributed in some way to multitudinous crimes. Crowd crime is when the individual conduct of the defendant is not considered, as it is believed that there is influence between the criminals due to a common objective.

The lawyer uses images from security cameras to prove his speech. In one of the excerpts presented in the oral argument, a boy knocks down Dom João VI’s watch, while another group arrives and puts it in its place. The same watch is knocked over once again by another vandal, but they try to put it back again, even though the object has already been torn to pieces.

Part of Major José Eduardo Natale’s testimony is also used in the oral argument. When asked if there was a homogeneous attitude among the protesters, he reports that there was no coordination between people. “No, there were different attitudes. You can’t even say groups, because people were very uncoordinated in there. Even people who said the same thing, there was no union of thought or coordination between them. So, the group was quite heterogeneous, yes.” The major also adds that only a minority were committed to destroying the place and that they received help from protesters to contain the vandals.

Insecurity for the future

Accompanied by a psychiatrist and taking medication to cope with the difficulties, Rosana is still trying to overcome everything she experienced while in prison. “I can not sleep. One trauma I have is hearing the noise of bars opening or screams. That’s still very much in my mind,” she describes. She further adds that “it was painful, it was difficult, but God sustained us all there the whole time”.

Until the closing of this report, only minister Cristiano Zanin published his vote in relation to Rosana’s case. Zanin followed Moraes’ decision with reservations. For Zanin, the defendant committed all the crimes mentioned by Moraes, but he disagrees with the sentence, believing that Rosana should be sentenced to 11 years in prison.

“The 14-year sentence is disproportionate for any person, as there is no evidence in the records that he participated in the acts of vandalism, this can have a devastating impact on his life. She could lose her freedom, her reputation and her livelihood”, declares Hélio Junior, Rosana’s lawyer.