After the escape of the convicted former deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL) and the attempted escape from Brazil of the former director of the Federal Highway Police (PRF) Silvinei Vasques, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), ordered the house arrest of 10 other people convicted of participation in a putschist plot in three different centers. With this decision, even without the final judgment and with some actions during the appeal period, all those who were found guilty by the First Jury and who were not already in prison are now, as a preventative measure.
The exceptions are Jair Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp, Mauro Cid, who is serving a two-year open prison sentence, and retired colonel Reginaldo Vieira de Abreu, sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison, but who has lived legally in the United States since 2023.
In his decisions this Saturday (27/12), Moraes used the examples of Ramagem and Silvinei as an example of the risk of escape of convicts who are still responding to the process while they are free.
In the decision, the minister makes the following observation: “The modus operandi of the criminal organization condemned by the Federal Court indicates the possibility of planning and executing escapes outside the national territory, as the accused Alexandre Ramagem does, including with the help of third parties, as highlighted by the Federal Police.”
The minister ordered house arrest in the context of the criminal acts judged by the first college and includes the imposition of precautionary measures, taking into account the concrete risk of escape identified in the files. The decisions reached the following defendants:
- Guilherme Marques de Almeida, army lieutenant colonel: sentenced to 13 years and six months;
- Sérgio Ricardo Cavaliere de Medeiros was sentenced to 17 years in prison;
- Filipe Martins, former international affairs advisor to former president Jair Bolsonaro: 21 years in prison;
- Giancarlo Gomes Rodrigues, army adjutant: 14 years in prison;
- Ângelo Martins Denicoli, army reserve major: 17 years in prison;
- Ailton Gonçalves Moraes Barros, army reserve major: 13 years in prison;
- Fabrício Moreira de Bastos, colonel: 16 years in prison;
- Bernardo Romão Correa Netto, colonel: 17 years in prison;
- Marília de Alencar, former director of intelligence at the Ministry of Justice: 8 years and six months in prison.
- Carlos Cesar Moretzsohn Rocha, president of the Instituto Voto Legal: 7 years and six months in prison. The latter has not yet been found by the PF to execute the mandate.
In all cases, house arrest with electronic surveillance was ordered, in addition to restrictions such as the ban on the use of social networks, the ban on any contact with other accused and accused persons, the issuance of passports, the ban on leaving the country, the suspension of registrations and authorizations to carry weapons and the limitation of visits, reserved for lawyers and people previously authorized by the STF. Failure to comply with these measures may result in immediate preventive detention.
Criticism of Moraes
Moraes’ decisions in this case are contested by the defenses of some of the convicts. Lawyer Jeffrey Chiquini, who represents Filipe Martins, protested against his client being punished for another’s escape.
“We will appeal, knowing the almost non-existent chances of reforming this decision, since it is Moraes who will analyze our appeal,” he told Metropolises.
The lawyer also said that the initiative aims to formally record what he considers to be illegalities in the course of the process. “We will do this so that there is a history of the illegalities that we are experiencing today. I say, and I never tire of saying it, that we are witnessing, under our noses, the assassination of the fundamental rules of criminal access,” Chiquini further criticized.
Acts
The arrests were determined within the framework of Criminal Actions (AP) 2.694, 2.696 and 2.693, judged by the First College of the STF. The collegiate recognized the structured and permanent action of an armed criminal organization aimed at attempting to disrupt the institutions and acts which resulted in the attacks of January 8, 2023.
The new decisions extend the scope of provisional measures to other defendants already convicted in the same cases or in related actions.
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In all processes, the communication was determined to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) for the purposes of ineligibility, under the terms of Complementary Law 135/2010 (Proper Registration Law), due to collegial convictions.
Risk of escape
In determining the house arrests, the rapporteur emphasized that, although the convictions establish a closed initial regime, the procedural moment recommends the adoption of a less serious precautionary measure, without prejudice to the guarantee of the application of criminal law.
The decisions took into account the recent history of attempts to flee the national territory by other people convicted of criminal actions linked to anti-democratic acts.
According to Minister Alexandre de Moraes, the measures are necessary to guarantee the effectiveness of sentencing decisions and preserve public order, in accordance with the consolidated jurisprudence of the Federal Court.
Prisoners
On December 16, at the end of the core 2 trial, the STF reached the bar of 29 sentenced to prison for the criminal actions of the coup plot. Only two defendants were acquitted. Nucleus 5 is formed by the accused Paulo Figueiredo, grandson of the former president of the dictatorship João Figueiredo. He lives in the United States and there is no date for the trial.
Army General Estevam Theófilo, of Nucleus 3, and Fernando de Sousa Oliveira, career delegate of the Federal Police (PF) and former director of operations of the Ministry of Justice, of Nucleus 2, were acquitted by the First Committee for lack of evidence.
Today, only Group 1 defendants, which includes former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven other defendants, are serving sentences once the trials become final. The others are still in the appeal phase. Look:
Core 1, sentenced on September 11
- Jair Bolsonaro, former President of the Republic: sentenced to 27 years and three months arrested
- Walter Braga Netto, former minister and vice-presidential candidate for 2022: sentenced to 26 years – arrested
- Almir Garnier, former Navy commander: sentenced to 24 years in prison arrested
- Anderson Torres, former Minister of Justice and former Security Secretary of the Federal District: sentenced to 24 years – arrested
- Augusto Heleno, former minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI): sentenced to 21 years – under house arrest for humanitarian reasons
- Paulo Sérgio Nogueira, former Minister of Defense: sentenced to 19 years in prison – arrested
- Alexandre Ramagem, federal deputy and former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin): sentenced to 16 years, one month and 15 days – fugitive in the USA
- Mauro Cid, former Bolsonaro aide-de-camp: sentenced to 2 years in prison in an open regime and freedom guaranteed thanks to a plea agreement.
Nucleus 2, sentenced on December 16
- Mário Fernandes, army reserve general: sentenced to 26 years and six months in prison – arrested
- Silvinei Vasques, former director of the Federal Highway Police (PRF): sentenced to 24 years and six months in prison – tried to escape and was arrested preventively
- Marcelo Câmara, former advisor to Bolsonaro: sentenced to 21 years in prison – arrested
- Filipe Martins, former international affairs advisor to former president Jair Bolsonaro: sentenced to 21 years in prison – house arrest ordered this Saturday
- Marília de Alencar, former director of intelligence at the Ministry of Justice: sentenced to 8 years and six months in prison – house arrest ordered this Saturday
Nucleus 3, sentenced on November 18
- Hélio Ferreira Lima, lieutenant-colonel: sentenced to 24 years in prison arrested
- Rafael Martins de Oliveira, lieutenant colonel: sentenced to 21 years in prison arrested
- Rodrigo Bezerra de Azevedo, lieutenant colonel: sentenced to 21 years in prison – arrested
- Wladimir Matos Soares, federal police officer: sentenced to 21 years in prison – arrested
- Sérgio Ricardo Cavaliere de Medeiros, lieutenant colonel: sentenced to 17 years in prison – andI am under house arrest this Saturday
- Bernardo Romão Correa Netto, colonel: sentenced to 17 years in prison – house arrest ordered this Saturday
- Fabrício Moreira de Bastos, colonel: sentenced to 16 years in prison – house arrest ordered this Saturday
- Márcio Nunes de Resende Júnior, colonel: sentenced to 3 years and five months in prison.
- Ronald Ferreira de Araújo Júnior, lieutenant-colonel: sentenced to one year and eleven months in prison.
Nucleus 4, sentenced on October 21
- Ângelo Martins Denicoli, army reserve major: sentenced to 17 years in prison – house arrest ordered this Saturday
- Reginaldo Vieira de Abreu, army colonel: sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison – lives legally in the US and has not yet received a request letter, according to the defense
- Marcelo Araújo Bormevet, federal police officer: sentenced to 14 years and six months in prison;
- Giancarlo Gomes Rodrigues, army adjutant: sentenced to 14 years in prison – house arrest ordered this Saturday
- Ailton Gonçalves Moraes Barros, army reserve major: sentenced to 13 years in prison – house arrest ordered this Saturday
- Guilherme Marques de Almeida, army lieutenant colonel: sentenced to 13 years and six months – house arrest ordered this Saturday
- Carlos Cesar Moretzsohn Rocha, president of the Instituto Voto Legal: sentenced to 7 years and six months in prison- was placed under house arrest, but was not found
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