July
13, 2014
The
Brazilian Association of People's Lawyers and the International Association of
People's Lawyers come hereby to repudiate the dispatch of 26 arrest warrants
against activists, last July 12, in the eve of the final match of the FIFA World
Cup. The activists were literally hunted by the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro
in several cities, including Porto Alegre and São Paulo, held in their homes and
taken to the Police City in Rio, which became a center of operations for
political prisons. Materials used in protests, such as gas masks and flags, plus
a revolver held by the father of one of the activists (minor), were used to
charge the activists as "armed gang", by the State repression organs and the
press.
Among
those arrested is Eloisa Samy, lawyer who acts in defense of persons persecuted
for protesting - in clear violation of the exercise of the legal profession.
The
decision of the judge of the 27th Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro, Fábio
Oliveira de Itabaiana Nicolau, founded the 5 days custody warrants in the crime
of criminal association, referred to in art. 288 of the Penal Code, which refers
to "associate themselves with three or more people, for the specific purpose of
committing crimes." The decision also refers to the protests scheduled to take
place on the eve of the final of the FIFA World Cup, taking advantage of the
visibility given by the coverage of the event, aiming to be "necessary police
action to prevent the consummation of this objective and also to identify other
members the association". Statements by the head of the Civil Police of Rio de
Janeiro, Fernando Veloso, in a press conference, made it clear that the
arrests were because the activists were mobilizing to protest during the FIFA
mega event.
These
latest arrests are a continuation of the pattern of violence and the State of
Exception installed in Brazil including during the World Cup games. Decisions
and arguments of the Judiciary and the Civil Police make clear that the
Brazilian State acts as an armed branch of FIFA to ensure the profits of the
entity and their sponsors. This approach is fully backed by the government of
Dilma Rousseff and advisors, like Minister of Sport Aldo Rebelo.
Among
the numerous illegalities of the case, the activist Elisa Quadros was arrested
in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where her family lives, by a police officer
from the state of Rio de Janeiro. Moreover, the fact that she was traveling to
visit his family shows that there was no link with the protests.
At
the Headquarters of the operation, the Police City in Rio de Janeiro,
independent journalists were prevented from having access to the press
conference, which was open only for those parts of the corporate press, as
denounced by the Union of Journalists of the municipality.
Two
weeks ago, in Sao Paulo, two lawyers were arrested for gathering in a downtown
square discussing the defense of four activists arrested last June 26, which are
arrested to date. In Rio de Janeiro, two other young people who participated in
demonstrations are arrested since January this year. In Goiânia, in May, three
young students were taken out of their homes for allegedly participating in
protests for public transportation.
Like
this episode of political arrests in Rio, several other cities, such police
operations, based on confidential investigations, have been practiced. They
expose a state that strives to arrest and prosecute those who protest and fight
for justice. As said the lawyer of the arrested activists in Rio de Janeiro,
Marino d'Icarahy, these operations are performed by the political police, the
one that receives orders directly from the domes of government.
"The
method is always listening, breaking the pages, the breach of personal privacy,
and I think that there is an unconstrained campaign to transform our politicized
and militant youth who want to see a different country, in a gang of marginal
and armed thugs, that's what they want to transform our youth."
Several
organizations, such as Amnesty International, Global Justice and Human Rights
Committee of the Bar Association of Brazil - Rio de Janeiro Section have
condemned the arrests as an attempt to intimidate the protesters in the
country.
Criminalization
is such that it is absurd to arrest based in supposed future actions, labeling
people who, at some point, simply exercised their free right to demonstrate.
It's
unacceptable to keep such decisions of nature absolutely political within a
scenario that reveals a growing process of fascistization of the Brazilian
State, that to restrain any act aimed at exposing their violations reacts with
brutality and violence, trampling all rights and guarantees, which in theory
should be safeguarded by such a state.
It
is clear that this pattern of state violence will continue even after the end of
the World Cup, while the protests are expected to increase. The ABRAPO and IAPL
repudiate the arrests of activists and attacks on lawyers in the exercise of
profession; demand the immediate release of political prisoners, the withdrawal
of arrest warrants and the end of the persecution of struggling, and ask for the
repudiation of Brazilian government and President Dilma Rousseff by
international community, for systematic human rights violations.
ABRAPO
- Brazilian Association of People's Lawyers
IAPL - International Association of People's Lawyers
IAPL - International Association of People's Lawyers
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