Brazil’s House Constitution and Justice Committee on Wednesday confirmed by a 39-25 vote the Supreme Court decision that led Congressman Chiquinho Brazão to jail for obstruction of justice in the case where he is accused of being one of the masterminds behind the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro City Councilor Marielle Franco.
The final decision, however, will be up to the House floor.
Under Brazil’s Constitution, each legislative chamber can decide whether or not to uphold a prison decision made before one of its members is convicted.
Mr. Brazão, his younger brother Domingos, and former Rio state police chief Rivaldo Barbosa were arrested on March 24 for obstruction of justice, a development that made massive headlines in Brazil.
The final Federal Police report on the case concluded that the Brazão brothers were the masterminds of the crime due to their involvement in the so-called urban militias, paramilitary police mafias that control vast territories in Rio.
Back in 2017, when Mr. Brazão and Ms. Franco were both local lawmakers in Rio, he supported (and she opposed) a bill to extend deadlines to regularize land use in neighborhoods on the West Side of Rio de Janeiro. This would allow people in the region — namely, the militias themselves — to sell land to future homeowners and order City Hall to provide services such as water, sanitation, and electricity. City Hall regularly demolishes illegal buildings on the West Side.
Pro-Bolsonaro lawmakers endorsed the arguments made by Mr. Brazão’s attorney, Cleber Lopes, who argued that the facts investigated by the Federal Police took place in 2018, when his client was not yet a congressman, and thus the Supreme Court would have no jurisdiction to order his arrest. However, Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the arrest for obstruction of the investigations and not for the double murder.
The far-right also contended that Mr. Brazão had not been caught in flagrante delicto, a legal condition for arresting incumbent lawmakers. Congresswoman Sâmia Bomfim of the left-wing Socialism and Freedom Party, the same as the late Ms. Franco’s, said that the right-wing was engaging in “legal jugglery” and that what was really at stake was the issue of the militias, who are also involved in political parties themselves.
Pro-Bolsonaro lawmakers that spoke in favor of freeing Mr. Brazão include congressmen José Medeiros, Éder Mauro, Carlos Jordy, Lafayette de Andrada, Officer Marcelo Freitas, Otoni de Paula and Marco Feliciano.
The far-right also defended the idea of leaving the decision to arrest Mr. Brazão until after his impeachment is discussed in the House Ethics Committee — a process that can take months and has no guaranteed result.
They also argued that lawmakers should stand their ground and not allow Supreme Court decisions to interfere in the Legislative Branch.
The House Ethics Committee today separately decided to authorize a proceeding to impeach Mr. Brazão, but a less rigorous punishment could be proposed by the rapporteur, who is yet to be announced.
Rubens Pereira Júnior, one of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration’s deputy whips in the House, said that the government had a clear position on voting to keep Mr. Brazão in jail. “The government worked to help federalize [the case],” he said. “Freeing him means wanting Chiquinho Brazão here by your side, debating and discussing.”
While the Constitution and Justice Committee was in session, Lula congratulated the Federal Police on social media for its investigation of the Marielle case.
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