Experts say the anti-factional Dirit project undermines the role of states against factions and makes it difficult to lose assets

Moreover, according to this understanding, the text opens a loophole to criminalize legitimate manifestations of social movements. Secretary of Public Security in the government of Tarcisio de Freitas (Republicans) in São Paulo, Dirit took a leave of absence from his position and returned to the chamber to act as rapporteur of the text sent by the federal government to Congress. The choice made by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hugo Motta (Republicans – PB), sparked opposition from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and members of the Ministry of Justice.

Derrett’s opinion, which he submitted on Friday, does not directly classify criminal organizations as terrorists, as right-wing parliamentarians have claimed. However, the text equates practices such as territorial control, attacks on security forces, and sabotage of public services with terrorist acts, with harsher penalties, for a period of 20 to 40 years.

Derrett makes additions to the anti-terrorism law, which today only applies to actions taken by “one or more persons motivated by xenophobia, discrimination or bias based on race, colour, ethnicity or religion.” Experts believe that changes aimed at expanding the scope of the fight against the factions are still present in the Criminal Organizations Law, as stipulated in the government’s original text.

Prosecutor and law doctor Vladimir Aras agrees with tougher penalties, but considers the confusion between the concept of organized crime and terrorism a “problem.” According to him, this may raise questions about the extent of the jurisdiction of the ongoing investigations between federal and state authorities, which could lead to invalidity. Terrorism investigations, by legal definition, are the responsibility of federal authorities.

– Uncertainty about the jurisdiction of a state or federal court will increase delays in operations and increase the risk of them being overturned by the courts. Aras said that placing all innovations in the Criminal Organizations Law does not create this danger and allows factions to be treated as terrorists when they commit terrorist acts.

Prosecutor Lincoln Gakia, who worked for more than 20 years in the fight against the PCC and participated in the preparation of the Anti-Factionalization Project, follows the same line and states that Derrett’s replacement continues to equate factions “in practice” with terrorist organizations. He believes that if the text is maintained under these conditions, there will be damage to the experience accumulated in investigations.

– All of the country’s 80-plus factions are now considered terrorist by “equality”, which is the same in practice. All competences accumulated in the Gaecos (Special Action Group against Organized Crime) of the Public Ministries will be neutralized. State police will become auxiliary forces in the investigations, which will be coordinated by federal forces. This is the weakest point of the opinion — said the prosecutor.

Analysts also called for the resumption of the article that stipulates “unusual loss of assets,” in cases where criminal proceedings end due to death or the statute of limitations.

– Today, the assets acquired by the defendant, even if illegally, are kept with him or his successors. Aras explained that with an extraordinary loss, these assets will be confiscated.

In the researchers’ opinion, Dayrit’s text still contains some general concepts that may ultimately lead to the criminalization of social movements. This will happen in the article that equates “acts of terrorism” with “restricting, restricting, obstructing or hindering, even if temporarily, the freedom of movement of persons, goods and services, public or private, without a legitimate motive recognized by the legal system”. According to this view, this excerpt could eventually be applied to a popular demonstration, for example.

– I believe that this project is very risky, because in the correct attempt to make the criminal treatment of factions more stringent, it may lead to an increased risk of loss of (economic) competitiveness, international interventions and restriction of civic space by the population – said Renato Sérgio de Lima, Director and President of the Brazilian Public Security Forum and Professor at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV).

This reference also raised alarm in the Ministry of Justice, which was expressed by the Ministry’s National Secretary for Legislative Affairs, Marivaldo Pereira.

We will continue to detail the analysis point by point. But, immediately, the framing of actions typical of social movements catches our attention. There is a difference between crime barriers and road closures. If a social movement blocks a path, we will face a situation equivalent to that of a terrorist. This is something that the extreme right has long demanded. Pereira said it was unfortunate that a project like this was handled in such a politicized manner.

There is also an assessment that the opinion opens the way for attacks on national sovereignty. The United States, for example, often resorts to the concept of “extraterritoriality” to attack terrorist groups in areas where it does not have jurisdiction.

-There is confusion in the project. There is one thing terrorist and another thing is terrorist methods. The dynamite mafia judge (Giovanni) Falcone in Italy (who worked on Operation Clean Hands). They are a mafia organization that uses a terrorist tactic, but they have very different motives than terrorists like Hamas, Al Qaeda, etc. They do business left, right and centre, but they only seek profit. Terrorism, on the other hand, is political violence with ideology – said jurist Walter Meyerovich, former judge of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo and author of the book “Mafia, Power and Anti-Mafia”. Changing tariffs creates confusion, which creates risks and violations of the country’s image and economy.

The researchers highlight that there are already links between Brazilian factions and terrorist organizations, such as sharing money laundering schemes and exploiting the drug and arms trade. But from their point of view, the combination of concepts would violate international agreements and would have impacts on the country’s economy.

Organized crime is a business. Terrorism is a religion, ideology, and sectarianism with political goals. Terrorism is financed by organized crime globally, such as Hezbollah in Brazil’s tri-border with cigarette smuggling. Leandro Pique, coordinator of the School of Multidimensional Security at the University of São Paulo (ESEM), said the smuggler who helps Hezbollah is a criminal looking for profit and should be treated as such.

Lawyer Pierpaolo Bottini, a professor in the Department of Criminal Law, Criminology and Forensic Medicine at the University of the South Pacific School of Law, adds that the prison system, where factions have a strong presence and recruit new members, was left out of the proposal:

– Mere equality seems symbolic to me, as does increasing penalties and tougher enforcement of the criminal law. “We know that Brazilian criminal organizations operate and multiply specifically within prison walls, so increasing incarceration rates will not solve the problem,” Bottini said. Influencing the financial flow of criminal organizations is the best way to limit their operations, in addition to controlling effective security and state presence in the occupied territories.