MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

De Moraes orders probe into Senator Do Val's statements regarding coup

Do Val was to record De Moraes saying something inconvenient to be later induced into certain decisions

After Senator Marcos Do Val (Podemos-ES) claimed to have participated in a meeting with former President Jair Bolsonaro to discuss a coup d'état, Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes ordered Friday an investigation into such allegations.

Federal Supreme Court (STF) Minister Alexandre de Moraes ordered this Friday (3) the opening of an investigation to investigate the statements of Senator Marcos do Val that he would have received a proposal to participate in a coup d'état.

Do Val said he had participated in a meeting with former president Jair Bolsonaro and former congressman Daniel Silveira seeking to induce De Moraes to “recognize” that he had crossed the four lines of the Constitution with the former head of state.

De Moraes argued that the senator presented a different version of the facts when he was heard by the Federal Police and, therefore, an investigation of the crimes of false testimony, slander, and coercion should be carried out in the process. “After the hearing, the rapporteur found that the senator presented four antagonistic versions of the facts, the last one in a statement to the Federal Police, which demonstrates the 'pertinence and necessity' of carrying out diligences for its complete clarification and for the investigation of the crimes of false testimony, slanderous accusation, and coercion in the course of the process.”

The judge also ordered media outlets who interviewed the lawmaker to forward the full records and requested access to live performances by Do Val on social media.

De Moraes explained that according to Do Val there was a plan to embarrass him so that he would not move on with the investigations into the dissemination of fake news attacks against STF Justices.

“Like countless parliamentarians, he [do Val] requested an audience. I received him in the white room and what he told me was that Congressman Daniel Silveira had sought him out and he had [then] attended a meeting with the [former] President of the Republic [Jair Bolsonaro],” De Moraes said in a video appearance.

Do Val said that Silveira and other people close to Bolsonaro planned to delegate to someone Moraes trusted the mission of recording a conversation with the minister, trying to obtain something compromising. Do Val would be this person, even though De Moraes assures that the two are not close, having only been together on three occasions.

“The genius idea they had was to bug the senator so that he, who has no intimacy with me, would record me so that, with that, they could request my removal from the presidency of the inquiries,” De Moraes added.

“I asked the senator if he would reaffirm this and put it on paper [because, this way] I would take his statement immediately. He told me that, unfortunately, he could not confirm [the account officially]. So I stood up, said goodbye, and thanked the senator for being there. Because for me, what is not official doesn't exist,” the Judge explained.

The senator eventually revealed the story to Veja magazine, which made a cover story. Before the magazine hit the stands, Do Val talked about the subject in a live broadcast on his Instagram profile. During the live broadcast, he even announced that he was planning to leave the political party.

Given the repercussions of Do Val's statements, De Moraes ordered the Federal Police to take his statement

This “operation shows exactly how ridiculous we have become in attempting a coup,” the De Moraes said.

Regarding the Jan. 8 riots in Brasilia, De Moraes said many perpetrators were under investigation because these people act “not only for ideology, for political taste, but also for economic reasons since they end up being economically favored.”

De Moraes also defended the regulation of social media, explaining that, although the subject is controversial and there is still no worldwide example to be followed in this sense, the main objective is to equate the activity of social networks to that of traditional media companies.

“What is being defended is exactly that social media should no longer be considered technology companies, but that they should be held responsible for what they publish. We want these companies to have the same responsibility as media companies that earn and raise money from advertising,” the minister defends. “It is not about previously analyzing content or establishing the need for authorization to broadcast something - which the Federal Constitution would never allow, but those who have the courage to publish hate speech, anti-democratic, personal offenses, should have the courage to take responsibility. The binomial of freedom and responsibility applies to traditional media, television and written, and, in my opinion, it should also apply to social media,” argued Moraes.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)