The Brazilian Army informed the Federal Supreme Court (STF) this Thursday (26) that there was no disrespect to the visitation rules for soldiers arrested in the investigation investigating a coup plot.
The letters — signed by the Eastern Military Command and the 1st Army Division and the Vila Militar Garrison — were sent to Minister Alexandre de Moraes, rapporteur of the inquiry. He had given a deadline of 48 hours for the Force to clarify an alleged violation of visiting regulations.
In its response, the Army stated that General Mário Fernandes, while he was detained at the Command of the First Army Division (Rio de Janeiro), received visits from family members “only after judicial authorization” on five dates: 11/28 (on an exceptional basis) , 29/11, 1/12, 2/12 and 4/12. The Force also stated that the days are “compatible with the initially established rules for family visits”.
Furthermore, the Force alleged that Lieutenant Colonel Rodrigo Bezerra Azevedo, who also spent time detained in the First Army Police Battalion (Rio de Janeiro), received visits only from his lawyer. In the case of Lieutenant Colonel Hélio Ferreira Lima, another who was detained in the First Battalion of Guards (Rio de Janeiro), the Army said that the soldier only received visits from his wife, Colonel Carla Lobo.
According to the Army, the soldier lives in Manaus (AM) and was authorized to carry out daily visits on an extraordinary basis, as she was in Rio de Janeiro only for “the purpose of visiting her spouse”.
“This command understands that, unless otherwise judged, there was no disrespect to the visitation regulations, nor to that contained in the judicial decisions made by this rapporteur, related to visitation to those in custody”, he informed.
Both Mario Fernandes, Rodrigo Bezerra and Hélio Ferreira were transferred to Brasília on December 5th. The Planalto Military Command has not yet responded to the request regarding visits received following the military’s deployment to the federal capital. This is expected to happen this Friday (27).
Who are the military
The soldiers mentioned by Moraes are among the 40 people indicted in the investigation into a plan that aimed at a coup d’état and the murder of minister Alexandre de Moraes, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and vice-president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB ).
Those investigated are accused of the crimes of coup d’état, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law and criminal organization in the PF investigation. Among those indicted are former president Jair Bolsonaro and former minister Walter Braga Netto.
