Political Prisoner of Brazil’s Jan. 8 Protest Dies

Security forces arrest rioters after retaking control of Planalto Presidential Palace in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023. Ton Molina/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

The world needs to know that Brazil today has more than 1,000 political prisoners who face harsher sentences than those of rapists, drug traffickers, and murderers.

Peacefully protesting against a controversial government is now a serious crime in the country, with sentences of up to 15 years or more.

There is now the confirmed death of one of these political prisoners.

Clérison Pereira da Cunha, a businessman who lived in Brasília, was arrested during the Jan. 8 protests when he took refuge in the federal legislative building to protect himself from tear gas and rubber bullet fire.

Arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Defense lawyers for the political prisoner announced that he had a massive heart attack.

According to the first reports, there was a delay in transferring the political prisoner to a hospital.

In their petitions asking for the release of the accused, they warned about the businessman’s health situation, pointing out the “unhealthy and degrading situation” of the prison system where he was confined.

A journalist from the Brazilian newspaper Gazeta do Povo spoke with Eliana Calmon, a well-known Brazilian judge and accomplished jurist who was the first woman to be a member of Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice.

Dubious Court Procedures

According to her, there were numerous problems related to the conduct of the Supreme Court.

First, Justice Calmon says, the Federal Supreme Court is not the natural jurisdiction for the case. Instead, the defendants of the Jan. 8 acts should have been tried at the Federal Court since the crimes of which they are accused occurred in a federal area.

Second, there was no individualisation of the conduct. The images from security cameras of the public buildings clearly show that while some protesters vandalised public property, others sought to protect them.

As reported, the accused who died in jail did not even participate in violent acts. He entered the public building to protect himself from the gas bombs that were thrown by the police to repress the crowd.

Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva outside Brazil’s National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, on Jan. 8, 2023. Adriano Machado/Reuters

According to the Brazilian Constitution, people must answer for their conduct individually.

And yet, Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court began his trial for “lots” of 100 or 200 people at a time.

He used the idea of “multitudinous crimes” in all crimes related to Jan. 8, disregarding the fact each person had acted differently.

Third, the Brazilian Criminal Code determines that the pre-trial imprisonment of defendants should be reassessed after 90 days of detention.

Although his lawyer filed eight requests presenting evidence of the accused’s delicate health condition, there was no consideration for Mr. Cunha to be released on such health grounds.

Unjustly Detained

Fourth, the federal Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) recommended the release of the political prisoner.

On Sept. 1, PGR granted a favourable opinion on the release of the political prisoner due to his health condition. These federal attorneys argued that the release of the political prisoner was due, inter alia, to the expiration of the investigation period of the case.

Further, federal attorney Frederico dos Santos also expressed the view that Mr. Cunha did not pose any risk to public order or to the possibility of interference in the collection of evidence.

These requests were all disregarded even though Mr. Cunha was already placed on the list of prisoners to be released by the Secretariat of Penitentiary Administration of the Federal District.

To give a proper context, on Jan. 9, at least 1,200 people were detained as part of the dismantling of a protesters’ camp in Brasília, Brazil’s capital city.

Security forces confront supporters of Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro entering Planalto Presidential Palace in Brasilia on Jan. 8, 2023. Ton Molina/AFP via Getty Images

When these political dissidents were sent to prison they went through a triage process. Pillows and blankets were not provided for “security reasons.” Many of them were elderly and children.

These political prisoners, including Mr. Cunha who eventually died of a heart attack, were forced to receive mRNA vaccines.

Common prisoners were released to accommodate these political prisoners in the overcrowded prisons.

On that same day, Human Rights Minister Silvio Almeida released an official note to communicate that these prisoners were terrorists who deserved no human-rights protection.

As the editorial of Revista Oeste commented,

“There is no investigation at all. There is only ... an illegal process that operates in secret, refuses to disclose evidence, hinders the defence of defendants by their lawyers—and, most of all, hides from the public anything that the Lula government wants to keep hidden.

“As in a Soviet court case, those whom the Supreme Court and the government want to convict will be convicted—even if the law does not allow for this, or if these political prisoners were physically absent from the place where the alleged crimes of were committed.”

On Jan. 11, the then-Chief Justice, Rosa Weber, declared that no judge would be allowed to “soften the punishment” of political dissidents.

Also on that day, the country’s National Council of Justice announced that it was carrying out a thorough crackdown on the Brazilian Judiciary.

The entity has been reportedly analysing all judicial decisions and judges who dare to decide in favour of political prisoners will be severely punished.

This is all taking place at a time when there is growing suspicion around the events of the Jan. 8 riots in Brasilia.

As noted by Raul Jungmann, former Brazil’s defence minister from 2016 to 2018 and a former member of the Brazilian Communist Party, it is “impossible” to storm these heavily secured government buildings with a security breach.

Mr. Jungmann, who for a time was also the leader of the Popular Socialist Party, went so as far as to say that, “without the collaboration of internal security, nobody would have crossed the main door.”

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.