After “political” arrest, Brazil’s Supreme Court orders deputy Silveira to serve home detention

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered that federal deputy Daniel Silveira (PSL-RJ) should be placed under house arrest in a decision issued on Sunday, March 14th.

Silveira has been in prison since February 16th, when he was arrested for publishing a video on social networks advocating the AI-5, the military dictatorship’s harshest decree, and the removal of Supreme Court justices.

The STF Justice’s decision was based on a petition to grant temporary release by defense counsel, as the deputy is now held at the Rio de Janeiro State Police Battalion.

Moraes rejected Silveira attorneys’ request, but revoked the flagrante delicto detention, ordering the deputy to be placed under house arrest.

The deputy will be required to wear an electronic anklet and will be able to exercise his mandate in the Chamber of Deputies remotely. However, Silveira will not be allowed to use social networks.

Furthermore, he will not be allowed to receive visits or maintain contact with people under investigation in the fake news and antidemocratic rallies inquiries.

The case

Daniel Silveira was arrested by the Federal Police on the night of February 16th. The arrest was ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, acting alone.

The Justice is the rapporteur of the STF inquiries into the staging of so called anti-democratic rallies last year and the spread of fake news – in both of which the deputy is the target of investigations.

The arrest occurred after Silveira released a video in which he praised the AI-5, an instrument of repression of the military dictatorship issued by the government of General Costa e Silva in 1968, which closed the Congress and all the State Legislatures, stripped legislators of their mandates, and empowered governors and the president to take over the role of the legislature.

The AI-5 amplified the persecution power of the dictatorship, establishing prior censorship, the illegality of political meetings unauthorized by the police, and the suspension of political rights of citizens considered subversive, among other points.

“Deputy Daniel Silveira’s demonstrations through social networks are extremely serious, because they not only affect the honor but also represent an illegal threat to the safety of Federal Supreme Court justices, and are clearly intended to prevent the exercise of the judiciary, notably the independence of the Judiciary and the maintenance of the democratic rule of law,” said the magistrate in his arrest warrant.

In the video, Silveira also advocated the removal of STF Justices, which had already been seen in rallies, labeled by his political enemies as ‘anti-democratic’, held last year – including those attended by President Jair Bolsonaro himself.

The deputy criticized 6 Supreme Court Justices: Edson Fachin, Luís Roberto Barroso, Gilmar Mendes, Marco Aurélio Mello, Dias Toffoli, and even Alexandre de Moraes. He was arrested late at night in Petrópolis, in the hill country north of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The deputy’s legal advisor said that the “political nature of the arrest is obvious” and that the facts on which the arrest was based do not qualify as a crime, given that they are protected by the constitutional guarantee of immunity for words, opinions and votes of federal deputies and senators.”

Above all, the call for removal of the justices has angered the STF. Silveira’s statements might represent a constitutional violation, but it is a fact that Brazilian society is boiling because the STF is increasingly acting as de facto lawmaker. Broad sectors of society want to see the Supreme Court members replaced.

The deputy gained notoriety in 2018 when he broke a plaque in homage to city councilor Marielle Franco (PSOL-RJ) during his campaign for federal deputy. Before his arrest, he released a new video in which he claimed that Moraes would be “engaging in a fight” that he could not win.

“Do you think you are going to intimidate me and shut me up? I’m going to place each one of you in your rightful places,” he said. The arrest was ordered as part of the confidential inquiry into threats, insults, and fake news targeting Supreme Court justices and their relatives.

After the arrest ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes and endorsed by the Supreme Court, it was up to the Chamber of Deputies to decide whether or not to hold him in prison, as determined by the Constitution.

On February 19th, federal deputies decided to uphold Daniel Silveira’s imprisonment. There were 364 votes in favor of the opinion of the Constitutional and Justice Committee’s rapporteur, deputy Magda Mofatto (PL-GO), who recommended imprisonment to be maintained, considering the charges against the deputy as “very serious.” There were 130 votes against and 3 abstentions.

With information from InfoMoney