Brazil’s Senate Committee Passes Anti-crime Package Including Early Imprisonment

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Two weeks before recess in Congress, the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) passed Senator Marcos do Val’s opinion on the anti-crime package of Justice Minister Sérgio Moro in a symbolic vote on Tuesday, December 10th.

After the agreement reached in recent days by the chair of the committee, Senator Simone Tebet, the text was approved unamended, ie, in the same way it came from the Chamber of Deputies last week. Now the matter goes to the full Senate for a vote that may occur today.

Imprisonment before appeals exhausted

A further significant measure, passed yesterday in the CCJ with 22 votes in favor and only one against, is Senate bill (PLS166/18) which allows for imprisonment after a second instance decision by an appellate court affirming the original conviction.

The vote was celebrated by senators from several parties and led to a reversal in the discussion of the issue.

After a meeting with the leaders of the two houses on November 26th, the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre, announced an agreement in which the senators would cease debating the bill, so as to support the proposed amendment to the Constitution on the same issue under discussion in the Chamber of Deputies.

The presumed agreement was the target of much criticism, until a group of 43 of the 81 senators submitted a manifesto to the president of the CCJ, asking for the issue to be addressed.

The text, authored by Senator Lasier Martins, was given a favorable opinion by its rapporteur, Senator Judge Selma, as a substitute. The proposal, which amends the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPP – DL 3.689, 1941), was drafted following a joint effort between a number of senators and the Minister of Justice, Sérgio Moro.

Currently, Article 283 of the CPP states that “no one may be arrested except in the act of committing an offense or by written and substantiated order of the relevant judicial authority, as a result of a final conviction or, in the course of the investigation or proceeding, as a result of temporary or preventive imprisonment”.

In the version submitted to and passed by the CCJ, the arrest could occur “as a result of a criminal conviction by a collegiate [court] body”.

The bill also amends the wording of other passages of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to allow the court to determine the provisional execution of custodial sentences without prejudice to the right to lodge appeals. In practice, this allows for the option of imprisonment after a conviction is upheld by one appellate court.

As a substitute text has been approved, the text will still need to undergo another round of voting in the Constitution and Justice Committee. The voting has already been scheduled as the first item of the committee meeting of this Wednesday, December 11th.

As it is a final proceeding, if approved in the CCJ and no appeal is lodged by other Senators, the bill will be forwarded directly to the Chamber of Deputies for review.

Emergency Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC)

The senators also moved forward in the reading of the Emergency PEC (186/2019) which was followed by the establishment of two public hearings – with dates still to be set – to instruct the senators on the subject. The text is part of the ‘Mais Brasil’ (‘More Brazil’) Plan – a package of government measures to cut spending and ensure fiscal balance, with the aim of promoting economic growth.

In the case of the PEC, the goal is to reduce mandatory expenditures for all government branches, in order to enable gradual fiscal adjustment.

The proposal provides for triggers in the event of a serious fiscal disturbance, and a number of measures to restrain public spending.

The rapporteur, Senator Oriovisto Guimarães (Podemos-PR), submitted a substitute to promote “various adjustments in the wording and legislative procedures in its provisions, as well as to implement some specific changes in its content”.

A number of articles have been added, others have been expanded and others have been renumbered, in order to make the text clearer.

Source: Infomoney