MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil: No secrecy on Jan. 8 riots footage, De Moraes rules

De Moraes insisted the investigation involves all rioters and also all civilian and military public agents who looked the other way

Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre De Moraes Friday ruled to lift the seal of secrecy from images of vandalism recorded during the Jan. 8 riots in the Planalto Palace, Agencia Brasil reported. The magistrate's decision is part of the STF investigation into the coup d'état investigation.

De Moraes ordered all recordings of the Institutional Security Cabinet (GSI) captured during the Jan. 8 assault on the Planalto Palace be sent to the Court's ongoing investigation. The ruling came after the interim management of the GSI informed the STF that an inquiry had been opened on Jan. 26 to investigate the conduct of the officers on duty, but the images of the actions of vandals were not disclosed because of the secrecy of the investigation.

In the same decision, Moraes also ordered the Federal Police (PF) to collect, within 48 hours, the testimony of all GSI employees who were identified after recordings released by CNN Brazil showed former GSI minister Gonçalves Dias and other people inside the Planalto Palace during the coup plotting.

In his decision, De Moraes argued that he had already determined that all the images of the invasion should be attached to the investigation underway at the STF. In his view, the recordings are necessary to determine the criminal responsibility of those involved.

“Therefore, there is no secrecy of the images, based on the Access to Information Law, especially because they are absolutely necessary for the judicial protection of fundamental rights, the democratic and republican regime, which were cowardly disrespected in the criminal attack on our democracy, on 8/01/2023,” wrote the magistrate.

De Moraes stressed that the investigation into the coup acts also ascertains the responsibilities of civilian and military agents who colluded with the acts. “The investigation of the coup acts is not restricted only to the individuals and civilian and military public agents who criminally intended to cause the rupture of the Democratic State of Law, in an attempt to violate fundamental rights and the separation of powers, but also to the identification and accountability of the conduct of all those, including civilian and military public agents, who, during the consummation of the criminal offenses of January 8, or afterward, either actively or omissively, were complicit or failed to exercise their legal powers,” he concluded.

(Source: Agencia Brasil)