Police arrest suspect for threatening judge who ordered closure

The Maranhão Civil Police arrested the suspect for threatening the death of Judge Douglas Martins, head of the Tribunal of Diffuse and Collective Interests of the São Luiz Island District, in Maranhão. The arrest had the support of the Special Center for Police Operations of the Civil Police of Paraná.

The magistrate had received threats since December 2019, which escalated, however, after decreeing the emergency shutdown (blocking of non-essential services) in São Luís and three other municipalities in the metropolitan region. One of the messages said that the judge would die if he did not reverse the decision. Immediately, the magistrate requested an investigation from the Maranhão Civil Police.

The joint operation has the investigation chaired by the delegate Odilardo Muniz, head of the Department for the Fight against Technological Crimes (DCCT), an organ of the Superintendency of State Criminal Investigations (SEIC), and was supported by the Institutional Security Commission of the Maranhão Court of Justice, presided over by Judge Raimundo Barros.

According to the judge’s report, the suspect initially threatened him through private messages, but later learned that some of them had been made public. “We live in moments of great intolerance in our country. People are no longer content to disagree and debate different ideas. The difference in thinking is natural and necessary, “said the magistrate.