On Tuesday (26/03), Deputies Gilson Marques (Novo-SC), Fausto Pinato (PP-SP), and Roberto Duarte (Republicanos-AC) requested consideration of the request for preventive detention of deputy Chiquinho Brazão (União Brasil-RJ) which is being analyzed by the Federal Chamber Commission of Constitution and Justice (CCJ). Chiquinho has been arrested since Sunday (24/03), on suspicion of being one of the masterminds behind the murder of Rio de Janeiro city councilor Marielle Franco (PSOL).
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Marques stated that the Supreme Federal Court (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes’ decisions and the Federal Police investigation and report are robust and that it is necessary to have time to analyze them. The standard procedure to analyze the case by the congressmen will be followed and the arrest will be first discussed by the CCJ. The case is expected to be finally judged in the second week of April.
Unsatisfaction
PSOL and allied groups complained about the time taken to analyze the case and confirm Brazão’s preventive arrest.
Expulsion from the Party
The national executive of União Brasil ordered the expulsion of the parliamentarian from the party with the cancellation of his party affiliation, in a unanimous decision among those present.
Analysis:
The developments in the investigation into the death of Councilor Marielle Franco (PSOL) brought impacts from municipal politics to the federal level, further intensifying tensions between the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and Congress. This fact arises from the involvement of yet another congressman in an investigation by the Federal Police (PF). In this case, federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão (União Brasil) was arrested on suspicion of ordering the murder, along with his brother, of the counselor at the Court of Auditors of Rio de Janeiro (TC-RJ), Domingos Brazão.
According to political analysts, Congress must accept the arrest, however, the President of the Federal Chamber Arthur Lira highlighted the dissatisfaction of some of the deputies when he stated to the Minister of Justice and Public Security Ricardo Lewandowski that he represented the dissatisfaction of the 512 deputies about the episode, which some even treated as “absurd”.
The statement was interpreted as a message of the position of the deputies and senators regarding what they call another interference by the STF in the powers and prerogatives of Congress.
Lira was urged to act, as the President of the Senate Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) had already done “his part”, by defending the proposal that provides mandates for Court ministers and limits the individual decisions of magistrates, in addition to the PEC that criminalizes possession of any quantity of drugs.
Other operations in the Chamber had already been encouraging congressmen to seek measures that would limit the PF’s action in Congress. The search and seizure operations carried out in the offices of deputies Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ) and Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ) were two of these previous operations.
Parliamentarians have put together a package of measures to protect them from investigations and police operations, which are not firstly authorized by the Congress itself. They argue that the Constitution authorizes the arrest of a parliamentarian in office when there is, among other requirements, a crime in the act. For many politicians, this was not the case with Brazão, Ramagem and Jordy. Party leaders in the Chamber debated on Tuesday (26/03) the presentation of two Proposed Amendments to the Constitution (PEC) on the topic.
Still according to political commentators, the Rio de Janeiro bench, in particular, also seeks to demoralize the PF, since the state governor, Cláudio Castro, did not want the current state head of the PF to be Leandro Almada, who would have initially prepared a report on the investigation into the murder of Marielle Franco pointing to internal obstruction of police actions. These facts not only contributed to the transfer of the investigation to the responsibility of the Federal Police but also the indictment of the then head of the civil police of Rio de Janeiro, Rivaldo Barbosa.
