Bolsonaro has the right to withdraw his testimony in an investigation into the autonomy of PF, says the PGR | Politics

“There is no reason to oppose the option of the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, not to be questioned in the present case, either in writing or in person. As an investigator, he is legitimately exercising the right to remain silent,” he said. The attorney general Augusto Aras in the document.

The withdrawal of President Jair Bolsonaro from giving his testimony was denounced to the STF by the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation (AGU) on the 26th. Retired Minister Celso de Mello.

AGU also requested “the prompt forwarding of the records to the Federal Police to prepare a final report that will be delivered, a continuous act, even within the current extension, to the Federal Public Ministry.”

The PGR document was presented by decision of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the investigation. Last Friday (27), Moraes sent the president’s request for evaluation by the Federal Public Ministry. The minister also extended the count for another 60 days.

Moraes must now decide whether to respond to the deposition of the deposition and send the investigation to the Federal Police to conclude the investigations.

“As expressed in the previous ministerial demonstrations (…), the national legal system guarantees the right to silence, the exercise of which even includes the absence of the designated interrogation”, says Aras in the opinion.

The position of the PGR follows the understandings of the STF ministers, Edson Fachin and Luís Roberto Barroso, in previous decisions on testimonies of presidents.

Aras also pointed out that, in this case, there is no need for coercive driving, mandatory presence by the police. And he recalled the decision of the STF in this regard.

“The choice of the investigated authority, which intends to exercise its constitutionally guaranteed right to silence, must be respected.”

The opening of the investigation against President Bolsonaro and former Minister of Justice Sérgio Moro was authorized at the end of April and is based on the complaint by Moro, who resigned alleging Bolsonaro’s alleged attempt to interfere with the Federal Police to protect family members. and allies.

The testimony should be one of the last actions of the PF in the case. Investigators informed the STF that they wanted to hear from the president, but the absence of a rule on the format of the statement caused an impasse and he was not listened to.

The original reporter of the investigation, Minister Celso de Mello, determined that Bolsonaro must be heard in person by the agents. The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation appealed the decision, considering that the President has the right to give explanations in writing.

The case began to be tried by the plenary session with Celso’s vote, but there is no date to resume it. Mello withdrew and the investigation was distributed to Minister Alexandre de Moraes.

Last Wednesday, (25), the AGU reported that the president has no intention of giving the deposition. In the document sent to the STF, the AGU denounced the desire to “decline the means of defense that were offered only through face-to-face in that order.”

The AGU also affirmed that “it requests prompt remission of the records to the Federal Police for the preparation of the final report to be submitted, a continuous act, even within the current extension, to the Federal Public Ministry.”