Brazilian far-right deputy Silveira arrested for making threats to Supreme Court, Rule of Law

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Deputy Daniel Silveira (PSL – RJ) was arrested on Tuesday night, February 16th, by order of STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes, as part of an investigation into verbal attacks on the Supreme Court’s justices and fake news.

The denunciation is a formal indictment brought by the Court that, if accepted, implicates the accused and leads to criminal prosecution. As the PSL deputy enjoys privileged jurisdiction, it is up to the Supreme Court to analyze the case. Or in other words: Silveira’s case gets scrutinized by those  whom he critizised.

Silveira was arrested after publishing a video in which he advocated the AI-5, the harshest measure of repression of the military dictatorship, and the dismissal of all Federal Supreme Court (STF) justices. Both claims violate several constitutional provisions.

In the video posted on social media, Bolsonarist Silveira specifically criticizes six STF justices: Edson Fachin, Alexandre de Moraes, Luís Roberto Barroso, Gilmar Mendes, Marco Aurélio Mello, and Dias Toffoli. He also advocates closing the STF, which is unconstitutional.

In the early afternoon, through a unanimous vote, the STF decided to uphold Moraes’ decision that led to Daniel Silveira’s arrest. In the ruling, the Justices highlighted that the arrest in flagrante delicto was legal and that it was a non-bailable offense.

Despite the STF decision, under another constitutional provision, the arrest of a federal deputy must still be scrutinized by the federal Chamber of Deputies. Chamber president Arthur Lira has already been notified.

The deputy’s legal advisor says 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.”

Silveira was arrested late Tuesday night in Petrópolis, in the hill country of Rio de Janeiro, and spent the early morning at the headquarters of the Federal Police in Rio de Janeiro.

In his ruling, Moraes said that there was continuing conduct “aimed at damaging or endangering the independence of the established powers and the Democratic Rule of Law.”

According to Moraes, Silveira’s deeds, in addition to constituting “crimes against the honor of the Judiciary and of Federal Supreme Court justices,” are also crimes under the National Security Law promulgated by the military dictatorship in 1985.

The deputy also came out in defense of General Eduardo Villas Boas, former Army commander convicted of torturing prisoners. In 2018, on the eve of a habeas corpus trial of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the Supreme Court, Villas Boas stated on social media that the Army “repudiated impunity.”

In a recently released book, the former general states that, at the time, the statement was discussed with the Army high command before being published.

The statement was perceived as pressure on the STF justices. Fachin was the rapporteur of Lula’s petition for release, rejected by the Court’s plenary. The news about the book’s content prompted Supreme Court justices to release notes of repudiation in recent days.

Fachin said that pressure on the judiciary is “intolerable and unacceptable.” On social media, Gilmar Mendes advocated the separation of powers and ended with the sentence “Dictatorship never again!”

The deputy is already under investigation by the Supreme Court in an inquiry into the organization and financing of antidemocratic rallies and in another regarding attacks on Court justices and the spread of false news, the so-called fake news inquiry.

Last year, he was the target of a search and seizure warrant and had his bank secrecy broken. In the investigation request, the Prosecutor General’s Office pointed out that the deputy advocated the deployment of the Armed Forces against the Supreme Court and that there is a link between him and extremist conservative movements.

Daniel Silveira is in his first term as a federal deputy. Elected in 2018, the former state police officer became known for his appearance in a video destroying a plaque honoring city councilor Marielle Franco, who was assassinated by right-wing militia in Rio in March that same year.

PSL – The Social Liberal Party

Silveira´s PSL party used to be a far-right political party in Brazil. Founded in 1994 as a social liberal party, the PSL was registered on the Superior Electoral Court in 1998.

In January 2018, politician Jair Bolsonaro joined the party and later converted it into an economically liberal, nationalist, radically anti-communist and social conservative party. The original name remained after the ideological shift, and after Livres (the party’s original main wing) left the party and formed their own political movement to continue the party’s original goals. Bolsonaro became the party’s nominee for the 2018 presidential election and won in both rounds.

Bolsonaro left the party in 2019 after disagreements with its president, Luciano Bivar, and then attempted to found a new party Alliance for Brazil. PSL said on Wednesday, February 17th, it will expel deputy Daniel Silveira.