Arrested three months after the attacks, on January 8, 2023, in front of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), she even made a request in her own hand apologizing to the minister.
for the Sheet During the destruction, two years ago, they identified the hairdresser Débora Rodrigues dos Santos, 39. He values the work at between R$2 million and R$3 million — it is one of the main works by the Minas Gerais artist Alfredo Ceschiatti.
Last November, her name appeared again in another event related to an anti-democratic attack. The police, who died when committing one.
There is, however, no indication of a relationship between the two.
Defendant, whether to condemn or absolve her, the hairdresser stated in the letter that she was unaware of the statue’s symbolism and its material value, in addition to having apologized for her ignorance.
In the letter, he also stated that he now understands the symbolic and historical significance of the monument for the country and for Justice. The hairdresser also argued that today she knows that the statue has a name, which she said she didn’t know before.
So far the appeal has not resulted in a decision in his favor — as have other requests made by his lawyers.
The statue was painted with lipstick and washed in the days following the attacks that took place in Praça dos Três Poderes.
Débora is married, has two children, aged 6 and 11, and lives in Paulínia, in the interior of São Paulo. She is currently detained at the Rio Claro Women’s Resocialization Center, an hour away.
To ask for her freedom, lawyers have mentioned the affective and emotional vulnerability of the children, Débora’s lack of a criminal record and also the lack of risk that she will commit crimes again. They also state that she has a permanent residence and a stable family.
In one of the requests made to the STF, the defense argued that she is not affiliated with a political party, is not “one of the activists called Bolsonaro supporters” and would not have entered any of the vandalized buildings, only staying “near the statue of Justice, where had the idea of spray-painting the statue of justice with red lipstick, and had no intention of damaging it. [o monumento]”.
The phrase graffitied on the sculpture was a reference to the STF minister’s response to a , the minister said to the man who had approached him in New York.
The hairdresser’s defense is carried out by lawyers Tanieli Telles Padoan and Hélio Júnior, who are also monitoring the situation of other prisoners on January 8th.
Débora became a defendant on January 8th, under accusation by the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic for committing the crimes of armed criminal association, attempted violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, attempted coup d’état and damage qualified by violence and serious threat, against the Union’s assets.
The last trial related to the case took place in September, and the ministers of the First Panel of the STF (in addition to Moraes, , , and ) rejected Débora’s request.
Moraes stated in her vote that despite being the mother of two children, the concrete gravity of the facts attributed to the investigated woman “constitutes an exceptional situation that prevents the replacement of preventive detention with house arrest”.
Nursing technician Cláudia Rodrigues Leal, Débora’s sister, criticized the Sheet the situation imposed on her.
“On March 17th it will be two years since Débora was arrested, and the feeling we have is that she was forgotten there [na prisão]. They locked themselves inside, forgot the key and forgot it”, says Cláudia.
“Everything requested by the lawyers is denied by Minister Alexandre de Moraes.”
She says that the family is outraged by the statement that Débora would cause a risk to society. “I speak as a person, not as a sister. She is a Christian, she is a mother, she has always worked, she has a fixed residence, she is a primary offender, she has never committed any type of crime or anything wrong. Being seen as a risk to society for having written on a statue with lipstick… what risk does it pose to society?”, asks the sister.
Cláudia reports that, in the prison, her sister sleeps in a cell occupied by 13 people. He currently does internal work assembling semi-jewelry, but has also worked in the kitchen. On Saturdays, he attends worship.
The sister states that children don’t understand everything that is happening, but that it is difficult, especially on celebratory dates, such as Christmas and New Year.
Débora’s name has come up a few times in the last year. In the middle of the year, parliamentarians allied with the former president (PL), such as Bia Kicis (PL-DF) released videos asking for her release.
The one he left in the house where he lived for the last few days was also written in lipstick. On the bathroom mirror of the house in Ceilândia, administrative region of , the name Débora Rodrigues was written in red.
Further down, the following text appeared: “Please don’t waste lipstick! This is to make women beautiful. It’s a shit statue if you use TNT.”
