Senators inform Brazil’s Military Justice on alleged “criminal facts” during elections

This Friday (Dec. 2), circulated in WhatsApp groups a letter sent to the Prosecutor General of the Military Justice, Antonio Pereira Duarte, by the Deputy Prosecutor General, Carlos Frederico de Oliveira Pereira, with reports from senators about alleged “criminal facts” that occurred during the electoral process this year.

The document was forwarded on Nov. 25.

In the letter, the deputy prosecutor says that the facts reported by senators “may require action of other bodies of the Military Prosecutor’s Office (MPM) with the Courts of Military Justice, notably the Military Prosecutor’s Office in Brasilia, and also the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), first and second degrees, as well as in the extraordinary instances”.

Also, according to the deputy prosecutor, the senators’ action is accompanied by “ample documentation”, which according to the letter, was sent to the prosecutor by e-mail.

The senators reported “possible practice of illegal constraint, without pointing out its authors, of which the Armed Forces Electronic Voting System Inspection and Auditing Team (EFASEV) was a victim.

Carlos Frederico explains that the senators based their suspicions of illegal constraint on the denials given to the Ministry of Defense (MD) when asked about the electronic voting system.

Finally, the senators also informed about the “possible interference of foreign companies in the electoral process”.

Carlos Frederico says that it has not yet been possible to verify such interference since the military team responsible for monitoring the elections did not have “broad access to information” from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), “unlike these Big Tech companies, which, according to allegations (the senators), maintain a partnership with the Electoral Justice,” he added.

According to the deputy prosecutor, the senators understand “that there must be an investigation into a possible crime against the country’s external security, provided for in the Military Criminal Code (CPM), articles 142 to 145, having as factual support a possible cyber attack.

To justify the activation of Military Justice, the deputy argues that the action of the Armed Forces in elections is provided for in the electoral legislation in Law 13.844/19, which establishes the powers of the organs of the Federal Executive, and also cites the employment of military to Guarantee Voting and Counting (GVA), which occurs because of the Law and Order Guarantee (GLO).

Carlos Frederico recalls that on Aug. 11, 2022, President Jair Bolsonaro issued decree 11.172/22 “authorizing the employment of the Armed Forces in these elections as a GLO operation.

The deputy points out that including the Armed Forces in the Election Transparency Commission (CTE) was an initiative of the TSE.

However, the Court did not accept the suggestions for improving the security of the electoral system by the military.

Carlos Frederico says that the TSE “acted well” in calling the military to help in the inspection “in the face of the questions that have been observed about the possible action of hackers and other third-party interference in the electoral process,” but he emphasized that “no direct evidence of fraud in electronic ballot boxes” has been identified yet.

With information from BSM