Brazil: Temer regains freedom amid protests

Former Brazilian President Michel Temer has been released after being arrested on charges of to be at the head of a "criminal organization" that it took $ 520 million over four decades. A group of protesters chanted slogans against the defendant and pleaded for the trial of Lava Jato.

Temer, 78, left shortly before 6:45 am local time the Superintendency of the Federal Police of Rio de Janeiro, where he was admitted Thursday afternoon after being arrested a few hours earlier in San Pablo, where he resides and carries out its political activities. .

The politician of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) was arrested in the neighborhood "Operative Decontamination", with links to the cause Lava Jato, initiated in 2014 by Sergio Moro, the judge who is since 1 January Justice Minister of the current President Jair Bolsonaro.

Cameraman Antonio Ivan Thie, Federal Regional Court II accepted the habeas corpus presented by the defenders of Temer which ruled between 2016 and 2018. The former president did not agree to answer the questions of the investigators who had investigated Friday at the police headquarters located in the Rio port area.

Justice also ordered the release of the former Minister of Mines and Energy, Wellington Moreira Franco, MDB, and former police colonel of San Pablo, Joao Baptista Lima Filho, a trusted man of Temer for decades. Retired policeman Lima Filho has been accused of being responsible for illegal financial maneuvers through a San Pablo-based front company, where his wife, who also has her freedom, works. Thus, the ten people arrested Thursday by order of the federal judge Marcelo Bretas left their places of arrest.

"The decontamination operation" relied on award-winning denunciations concerning the perception of a bribe of one million reals ($ 260,000) to the company Engevix. The Federal Public Prosecutor maintained that this "criminal organization" has been running for about 40 years, during which time he collected 520 million illegal dollars.

After the cameraman ordered the release of Temer, former minister Carlos Marun said that "it is a moment of commemoration", given that "the legality has prevailed over barbarism ".

Temer's detention has added another ingredient to the rare political climate facing the country where President Jair Bolsonaro has a dispute with the US Congress for approval of the pension reform. Last week the dollar has had a considerable rise and the San Pablo Stock Exchange suffered heavy falls after the arrests, while it appeared that several members of Congress had expressed their dissatisfaction. In addition to the political impact, the fact has repercussions in the different sectors that make up the judiciary.

Chamberlain Athié, of the regional court, explained that his decision is in line with the postulates of the fight against corruption: "I am not against Lava Jato, on the contrary, I also want to see our country freed from the corruption that plagues it. , I observe that constitutional guarantees must be guaranteed for all, including those who refuse them, but that the rules are not respected, there is no legitimacy to fight this scourge. "