Brazil: Bolsonaro’s allies become prime Supreme Court targets; find out who’s next

By Renan Ramalho

It’s not only former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) who has been under investigation by the Supreme Court (STF).

After the end of his mandate, with the consequent loss of power in his political group, procedures have been advancing rapidly against allied parliamentarians.

Since the end of last year, deputies and senators close to him have become the targets of inquiries and accusations, and they tend to be punished, much of it due to criticisms and offenses made against the ministers themselves.

The next in this wave is federal congressman Otoni de Paula (MDB-RJ).

The Court’s plenary is ready to analyze a complaint against the congressman for defamation, insult, and coercion against Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a member of the STF and president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

In June 2020, reacting to the breaking of his bank secrecy by the minister, who was investigating him in the antidemocratic acts inquiry, the congressman said in a live broadcast on social networks that, with the measure, Moraes “disgusts society even more.”

“I have nothing to fear. I don’t have my tail tied; I’m not a crook.”

“Now, I don’t know if the bank secrecy of Justice Alexandre de Moraes is broken if he can have the same peace that I have now.”

“I don’t know if the bank secrecy of any Justice of the STF is broken, as they broke my secrecy now if they have no tail; if they can show what they earn; if they can show the offices here in Brasília that work for them, and everybody knows that, ok?”

For the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR), which filed the complaint, Otoni de Paula had insinuated, with these words, that Moraes would not act in an impartial and unbiased manner.

He would also have used “veiled” and “moral violence” when he said that “You can come in hot because I’m boiling”.

With this expression, he intended to “constrain future interventions” of Moraes in the investigation and benefit himself “under penalty of retaliation,” which would constitute the crime of coercion.

The PGR accused the congressman of defamation and insult for calling Moraes a “scoundrel”.

“You are anything but a democrat. And you are not going to intimidate this congressman.”

“You won’t because I didn’t put my character on the counter. I have not done with my name what you have done with yours,” he further stated, challenging Moras to investigate him.

“I don’t have to be ashamed of my past as you, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, have to be ashamed of your past! I have no friends connected to the PCC.”

“I have no friends connected to the Red Command in Rio de Janeiro.”

“I don’t! I never needed money from them for anything, Justice Alexandre de Moraes!”

“Now I do not know if you ever needed it,” he said in the live.

He finished by saying that the minister would act with “cowardice” if he ordered a search of his house.

“In a democratic way, in a republican way, I will see you fall,” he said, denying that he was threatening him.

In another live stream, he called the minister a “despot” and a “tyrant” for forbidding the journalist Oswaldo Eustaquio to use social networks.

The complaint against Otoni de Paula was presented by the PGR to the STF a week after Alexandre de Moraes sent the body the videos with the deputy’s speeches.

It was sent to the rapporteur Kassio Nunes Marques, appointed by Bolsonaro to join the STF.

It is up to him to cast the first vote in the complaint analysis.

If most Justices consider sufficient evidence of a crime, Otoni de Paula will become a defendant.

During a public hearing in the House of Representatives to discuss parliamentary immunity this month, the congressman protested that he was being investigated for “criticizing” the Justice.

“I never attacked the Supreme Court institution.”

“In fact, I would be crazy if I did because I would be attacking the last instance of democracy in our country. But I have always been critical of Justices.”

“The problem is that they want to confuse CNPJ with CPF.”

“The problem is that when you criticize a Justice of the Supreme Court, they want to say that you are criticizing, slandering, or on an antidemocratic rampage. No!”

“The Supreme Court is bigger than its magistrates; it’s bigger than the honorable Justices who temporarily occupy its seat,” he said.

With information from Gazeta do Povo

News Brazil, English news Brazil, Brazilian politics