The opposition in the National Congress released on Wednesday (4) a manifesto against decisions by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), in Inquiry 4781, also known as the fake news inquiry. The manifesto was presented at a press conference in the Senate, after a closed meeting between opposition parliamentarians.
In addition, opposition deputies and senators called on civil society, especially the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), to defend the “constitutional principles so dear to Brazilian democracy.” The opposition articulates a large act on September 7, on Avenida Paulista, to press for the impeachment of Minister Alexandre de Moraes. In addition to smaller demonstrations in other capitals.
“We call on all Brazilians to unite in a peaceful act on September 7 on Avenida Paulista, to demand a return to democratic normality. We defend the immediate archiving of the investigations initiated more than five years ago, the resumption of freedom of expression and of the press, amnesty for the politically persecuted, installation of the CPI of the abuse of authority in the Chamber of Deputies,” they say.
Regarding the manifesto, the parliamentarians cite that the opening of the inquiry contradicted the “principles of due process, the inertia of the Judiciary, and natural judgment”. They also point out that decisions with “arbitrary and authoritarian bias” threaten “freedom of expression, freedom of the press and even the inviolability of parliamentary mandates, which are protected by immunity in their opinions.”
“From the beginning, this inquiry was considered unconstitutional by the Attorney General’s Office, because, in addition to ignoring fundamental principles, it does not have a specific or determined fact, violating the accusatorial system and constitutional guarantees. Even with the PGR’s opinion, the investigation was maintained and has dragged on for more than five years without a clear conclusion, with secret decisions and a proliferation of derivative investigations that have contaminated Brazilian democracy,” says the manifesto.
According to the parliamentarians, all the accusations about Moraes’ decisions were confirmed after the revelations published by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo based on leaked messages from former advisors to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) and the STF. For the congressmen, the messages confirmed that “the minister set up a structure aimed at producing reports against predefined targets, corroborating pre-established decisions for the application of fines and restrictions of rights against citizens and media outlets of the political spectrum contrary to the government of the time”.
“Folha de São Paulo revealed messages that demonstrate the intention, for eminently political reasons, to toughen the actions of the STF against platform “X”, culminating in its removal from the air, also threatening with censorship and fines more than 200 million citizens who have no involvement with the facts, in an intolerable demonstration of truculence and mass censorship, in addition to taking unreasonable measures against companies and people”, explain the parliamentarians.
Opposition senators and deputies criticized the “omission of the Attorney General of the Republic”, Paulo Gonet, to investigate the abuses and the “summary archiving of disciplinary complaints” by the National Council of Justice (CNJ).
In the face of abuses, they demand an initiative from the Federal Senate and say that this is the “only institutional way to seek justice”. Despite this, the president of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), does not seem willing to move forward with the impeachment requests and even stated that they seem to be a “seal” for social networks.
