Daniel Silveira, the MP imprisoned in Brazil for ul …

The Brazil ruled by Jair Bolsonaro has a remarkable ability to generate bad news. In addition to the pandemic which has caused more than 10 million people infected and nearly 250,000 deaths, there is now an unpredictable political conflict. A national deputy for Rio de Janeiro, Daniel Silveira, staunch ally of the far-right president, was arrested by the Federal Supreme Court (STF). The judges accuse him of having confirmed organic law n ° 5 of the dictatorship with which the institutionalized repression began and of having offended several members of this Court. The legislator is a man with a record. As a military policeman, they repeatedly sentenced him to prison. As a bus driver, he was accused of forging medical certificates. But he got famous when destroyed a sign with the name of Marielle Franco – the adviser and sociologist assassinated by a paramilitary group in 2018 – who had been delivered in a street. His pathetic demeanor and provocative demeanor intimidated even the troops who apprehended him in Petrópolis. The case has remained in the hands of the Lower House of Congress, which must discuss whether it supports his request for freedom or approves the STF’s decision. This Friday, he voted to validate his imprisonment with 364 votes in favor, 130 against and three abstentions. Bolsonaro did not comment on the matter, but his sons did, allies of this privileged fascist who is now in great difficulty.

Silveira was arrested on Tuesday evening by an order signed by the STF minister, Alexandre de Moraes. The PSL deputy (Social Liberal Party) who brought Bolsonaro to the presidency was arrested at his home. He was defiant and pleaded for putting on a mask before being taken to the federal police superintendent. The evidence of the accusation against him is contained in a video in which he praises the Organic Law No.5 of the dictatorship which deepened political repression in 1968 – four years after the coup d’état – and attacks several members of the Court. Mainly for Edson Fachin and Gilmar Mendes and Moraes himself.

The federal deputy also weighs the causes of the financing and organization of anti-democratic acts in Brasilia and the dissemination of false information. His incendiary dialectic is quite similar to that of Bolsonaro, who swore in Congress in memory of Carlos Brilhante Ustra, the torturer of the former president Dilma Rousseff in full impeachment. Silveira rose to prominence in the 2018 elections when she broke the sign that had been symbolically placed on a street named after Marielle Franco. He only obtained 31,000 votes, but the electoral deluge which brought about the arrival of his leader in Planalto deposited him in a seat in Congress. He is a lawyer and professor of Muay Thay or Thai boxing. At 38, he looks like Dwayne Johnson, the American actor better known as The Rock, due to his physical size. The ideas he professes correspond to this nickname. They are from the Stone Age.

Jair Krischke, president of the Brazilian Movement for Justice and Human Rights, told Página / 12 that Silveira “has chosen a speech of hatred and violence, clearly against human rights. He is a classic “militiaman”, one of the closest to the Bolsonaro family ”. The Commission for the Defense of Human Rights Paulo Evaristo Arns – named after the famous Brazilian bishop – said in a document: “Freedom of expression is a pillar of the rule of law, but it does not square with the spread of hatred and the clear incitement to violence. Parliamentary immunity protects democracy and cannot and should not be used to attack the rule of law ”.

In the video which was taken as evidence to arrest Silveira, according to the Brazilian press, the accused says, among other sentences, that the eleven members of the STF “are of no use to this country”, that they “do not ‘have no character, scruples or morals “and they should be replaced with” eleven new ministers. “He also berates Judge Fachin in the first person, who appears to be his primary target:” I want to see you, Fachin. Ton, Alexandre de Moraes, Marco Aurelio Mello, Gilmar Mendes, the one who loses bandits all the time. Every time he gives habeas corpus, he sells habeas corpus, he sells sentences ”, he accused him, accusing him of a crime.

Silveira’s conduct generated repudiation throughout almost the entire political arc and only a few expressions of support from the Bolsonaro clan. The leader of the PcdoB bloc in the Lower House, an ally of the PT in the 2018 presidential election, Maria Perpetua de AlmeidaHe commented: “This MP is irresponsible. He has not yet understood what his role in Parliament is. If it’s up to me, we take it to Ethics Council. This is why it is possible to have a president who says that “ the people must arm themselves to face the orders of the governors ”, who encourages his supporters, including federal deputies, to break the Constitution. It is the certainty of impunity, but it must be punished ”.

Criticism also came from the DEM (Democrats) which was an ally of Bolsonaro for the elections. “This is a very delicate matter, it has greatly mobilized Congress, the Supreme Court and society as a whole. We all need to be responsible for what we say and do. Even more parliamentarians. We cannot confuse immunity with impunity. We have to define how far parliamentary immunity goes, “he said. Juscelino Filho, Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Chamber of Deputies who, in sixty days, could decide to dismiss Silveira from his post.

The head of the PT bench in the Lower House, the deputy of the State of Paraná, Enio VerriHe announced that his party will ask the now-detained man to leave Congress. The PSOL, a left front with parliamentary representation, will do the same. The only space that supported Silveira is that of President Bolsonaro. His son Eduardo, a São Paulo legislator, predicted that he would vote “for the release of federal deputy Daniel Silveira in the name of guarantees of parliamentary immunity, freedom of expression and due process …” In January, he was ordered to compensate the journalist for insults Patricia Campos Mello. A trial judge ruled that he should pay him about 30,000 reais ($ 5,600 at the time). Eduardo accused her of spreading false news in exchange for a promotion in the Folha de San Pablo newspaper.