Brazil's Supreme Court (STF) schedules trial for PMDF (Military Police of the Federal District) leadership for negligence on January 8th.
The First Panel of the Supreme Federal Court will judge, starting November 28th, seven members of the top brass of the Military Police of the Federal District for alleged omission that would have favored the coup attempts of January 8th, 2023. The case will be analyzed in the virtual plenary of the panel until December 5th.
The trial had been scheduled for June, but was removed from the agenda several times. In the virtual plenary, the ministers simply cast their votes, without further discussion. If a request for a separate hearing is made, the trial is restarted in the physical plenary.
The group of defendants includes seven police officers who were part of the PMDF (Military Police of the Federal District) leadership during the vandalism in Brasília. They are :
- Fábio Augusto Vieira (commander-general of the PMDF at the time);
- Klepter Rosa Gonçalves (at the time, deputy commander-in-chief);
- Jorge Eduardo Barreto Naime (colonel of the PMDF);
- Paulo José Ferreira de Sousa Bezerra (colonel of the PMDF);
- Marcelo Casimiro Vasconcelos (colonel of the PMDF);
- Flávio Silvestre de Alencar (Major of the PMDF);
- Rafael Pereira Martins (lieutenant of the PMDF).
They are all out on provisional release and wearing electronic ankle monitors. The case rapporteur is Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
Because it involves police officers responsible for public safety in the Federal District, the indictment encompasses the offenses of failing to carry out visible policing duties and preserve public order, in addition to the crimes of violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law; coup d'état; aggravated damage through violence, serious threat with the use of flammable substances against federal property and with considerable harm to the victim; and deterioration of listed property.
The body headed by Paulo Gonet stated in its complaint to the Supreme Federal Court (STF) that, at the time of the events, there was "a profound ideological contamination on the part of the PMDF officers accused, who showed themselves to be adherents of coup-mongering and conspiratorial theories about electoral fraud." The accusation against the military officers was unanimously accepted by the First Panel in February 2024.
The defendants' lawyers deny the irregularities and request the acquittal of the police officers, arguing that there is no evidence of the alleged crimes and irregular conduct pointed out by the Attorney General's Office.
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