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The Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, issued an official note to inform that he does not feel obliged to evaluate the crimes attributed to Jair Bolsonaro in the handling of the pandemic. At a time when the debate on the accusation resurfaces, he pointed out: “Any illegal act that is the responsibility of political agents at the top of the Powers of the Republic, is the responsibility of the Legislative.” In the same text, Aras hinted that the president can enact a “state of defense” to preserve “institutional stability.”
The day after Bolsonaro declared that “the Armed Forces are the ones who decide whether a people will live in democracy or in dictatorship,” Aras gave the health crisis a military content. He argued that “the state of calamity”, enacted in Brazil since March 20, 2020 to facilitate the fight against the coronavirus, “is the prelude to the state of defense.”
The state of defense is provided for in article 136 of the Constitution. It can be decreed by the president, after listening to the advice of the Republic and National Defense. The pretext of “preserving or restoring promptly, in restricted and determined places, public order or social peace threatened by serious and imminent institutional instability” provides for the imposition of coercive measures. These include imprisonment and restrictions on the right of assembly and the confidentiality of correspondence and telephone calls. Congress has ten days to approve or reject the decree.
Aras’s note reveals between the lines a kind of psychic-legal drama. Something almost Shakespearean. If the functional dilemma weren’t enough – to seek or not to seek? – the prosecutor as if he were invested in the role of general counsel of the Republic. He advised moderation: “Considering the expectation of the worsening of the health crisis in the coming days, even with contemporary vaccination, it is time for temperance and prudence, in favor of institutional stability.”
At one point, Aras highlighted that “political segments are calling for criminal measures against federal, state and municipal authorities.” Armed with self-judgment, he said that he fulfills his role in an exemplary way: “The attorney general of the Republic, in the scope of his functions and observing the decisions of the Supreme Court on the division of powers between the Union, states and municipalities, is coming taking all appropriate measures from the beginning of the pandemic. “
It was at this point that Aras added that it is not his responsibility to deal with “any illicit act that may be the responsibility of political agents at the top of the powers of the Republic.” In Aras’s opinion, “institutions function regularly in the midst of a pandemic that threatens the planetary community, and it is necessary to maintain legal order to preserve the stability of the Democratic State.” Okay then!
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