“The participants in the coup must be punished. There can be no forgiveness for those who violated the rule of law. “That would be impunity,” assured the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, during the memorial service for the coup attempt on January 8, 2022. It was not necessary to mention the name of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, nor of his most radical followers, who attacked the headquarters of the three powers of the Republic that Sunday. Everyone understood who he was referring to. Accompanied by judicial, legislative and political authorities, with the exception of the followers of Jair Bolsonaro, Lula recognized all Brazilians who, in the face of the riot, “placed themselves above the divergences” to face its threat. “We save democracy, but it is never assured, needs to be cared for every day. It is imperfect, because we are human, but we must all join forces to improve it.”
According to Lula, the rule of law guarantees freedoms and obligations, but “there can be no freedom for lies and defamation on social networks.” The leader of Workers Party (PT) He stressed in this sense that “misinformation and hate speech was the fuel” of 8-E. “We will be under constant threat if the use of social networks is not regulated.” Between 2019 and 2022, the far-right government promoted the dissemination of ‘fake news’ through structures that became known as “digital militia.” Bolsonaro and his children have been investigated for these acts. The former president has been disqualified from holding elective office until 2030 for having questioned the transparency of the 2022 elections that favored Lula.
“Long live democracy, democracy always”, Lula said at the end of his speech. Previously, he acknowledged that “there will not be full democracy as long as inequalities persist.” Brazilians “must be able to unite to build a more just country” in the same way they did in their most dramatic hours, a year ago.
The other speeches
“Acts against democracy must have criminal effects”said the head of prosecutors, Paulo Gonet. ““They didn’t happen and they won’t happen.”stated the highest authority of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Luis Alberto Barroso. The depredation of the headquarters of the three powers “was neither an accident nor an isolated case: it was meticulously prepared and preceded by years of attack on the institutions.”
““Nothing justifies what happened on 8E,” recognized the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco. “We must remain vigilant against what traitors to the country do.”
“Democracy won,” said Alexandre de Moraes, member of the STF and the Supreme Electoral Court (STE), and highlighted “the strength of our institutions and the union of the authorities of the three powers in defense of the Constitution.” De Moraes, whom Bolsonaro considers one of his main enemies, assured that ““The strengthening of the rule of law must not confuse peace and unity with impunity.” Therefore, “all those who acted cowardly will be duly investigated, prosecuted and punished to the extent of their responsibilities. Democracy does not admit a political forgetfulness.” The minister demanded, facing the immediate future, the municipal elections in October, to pay attention to how “extremist digital populism” moves on the networks, an expert in “the dissemination of fake news, with the consequent corruption of language.”
The situation in the courts
Until now, the STF has convicted 30 people for their participation in the events. The sentences range from three to 17 years in prison. Another 29 defendants are in virtual trial. The Attorney General’s Office has charged 1,413 people, most of them for instigation.
One year after the fateful January 8, said Camila Rocha, columnist for the São Paulo newspaper Folha, there has been little progress in punishing the major coup plotters. “No politician, soldier, big businessman or landowner has yet been held accountable with the same rigor as those who do not hold high positions, ranks or large possessions.” Behind bars are irrelevant characters in the coup plot: Matheus Lima de Carvalho Lázaro, a delivery man who carried a knife, and Raquel de Souza Lopes, a cook, among them. They will spend 17 years in prison. “These descriptions are similar to the profiles included in a mapping of nearly 90,000 extremist accounts on X.” A significant portion of these accounts were from “manicurists, hairdressers, salespeople and electricians, who, for ideological reasons, prefer to call themselves businessmen or entrepreneurs instead of self-employed workers.
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In the same direction, Malu Gaspar, columnist for the Rio newspaper Or Globe, noted that, although high-ranking officers (reserve and active) played a key role in advancing the coup, “none have been prosecuted, denounced, tried or imprisoned to date.” He stated that the Minister of Defense, José Múcio, He expressly asked the commanders of the Armed Forces to participate in the ceremony “as a symbolic gesture of respect for democracy.” Previously, Múcio “was very efficient when it came to defuse legal or institutional bombs that could have bothered them” to those in uniform, including rewriting in Congress article 142 of the Constitution, “so used by Bolsonaro’s supporters to justify military intervention.” This section stipulates that military institutions must guarantee the “defense of the Homeland” and the “constitutional powers”, but “under the supreme authority of the President of the Republic.” The Workers’ Party (PT) wanted to make this amendment.
The minister of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Gilmar Mendes, admitted that “certainly” There were far-right government authorities “who in some way encouraged” the riot. In this sense, he recalled a phrase from General Walter Braga Netto, Bolsonaro’s chief of ministers, and then his running mate in the October 2022 elections, “telling those protesters who were camping in front of the barracks to have faith and, therefore, therefore, promising some kind of evolution, a few days before these events.