The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), criticized the Federal Police for the indictment of deputies Marcel Van Hattem (Novo-RS) and Cabo Gilberto Silva (PL-PB) after criticizing delegate Fábio Shor. Lira said that she views with “great concern the recent attempts” by the PF to investigate parliamentarians for speeches given in the gallery.
Lira defended the full exercise of freedom of expression of thought and material immunity of deputies. Furthermore, he signaled that the Chamber should prosecute the delegate for “abuse of power”.
“This House will reach the ultimate limits so that those who infringe on parliamentary prerogatives will be held accountable for abuse of authority,” stated the President of the Chamber, on Wednesday night (27), during the session.
For Lira, the two deputies “do not deserve” to be targets of investigations. “Two statements that took place do not deserve the treatment they are receiving from the Federal Police. Deputy Van Hattem and Deputy Gilberto Silva are not worthy of investigations and indictments”, he emphasized.
Van Hattem became the target of a confidential process in the Federal Supreme Court (STF) after accusing the PF delegate of producing “fraudulent reports” to keep Filipe Martins, former advisor for international affairs to the Bolsonaro government, in prison. At the time, the parliamentarian displayed a photo of the delegate and called him an “abuser of authorities”.
Silva made similar criticisms against Shor, who is responsible for investigations involving former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), such as the investigation into the alleged coup attempt and the alleged scheme to falsify vaccination cards. The two are accused of slander and defamation.
Lira defends parliamentarians’ prerogatives: “Our voice is the voice of the people”
The President of the Chamber argued that without material immunity, Parliament “would be subject to all types of limitations and censorship, with a clear compromise of parliamentary activity and an unequivocal weakening of democracy itself”.
“We will not allow setbacks that threaten this fundamental guarantee… Let it be clear: our voice is the voice of the people, and it will not be silenced,” he stated.
He stressed that his demonstration was not made to “disrespect, insult or intimidate” and pointed out that parliamentarians have limits that, if they are not respected, must be punished by the Ethics Council and the House Inspectorate.
“This presidency respects, no matter how much I disagree with certain statements made on the platform, sometimes I even pretend that I don’t hear it so as not to increase the debate, nor argue with those who I think are wrong. But I have an obligation to respect them, because this platform is inviolable”, he said.
