The Federal Police analyze the complaint of racism made by Minister Vera Lúcia Santana Araújo, second black woman to join the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
Union attorney General Jorge Messias requested “maximum urgency” in the determination of the facts, with the identification of those responsible and the adoption of the appropriate legal measures.
“I reiterate the commitment of the Attorney General of the Union to the defense of fundamental rights and the confrontation of all forms of discrimination, especially the structural racism that still persists in various instances of Brazilian institutional life,” says the office sent by Messiah to the Federal Police on Wednesday, 21.
O Estadão It has found that the OGU craft is under analysis by the Federal Police, but there is no formal inquiry instituted yet, which should be the next step in the case.
The episode of racial discrimination took place last Friday, 16, in a seminar of the Public Ethics Commission of the Presidency of the Republic in the auditorium of the headquarters building of the National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC), in Brasilia.
Upon arriving at the scene, after presenting the lecturer’s credentials and the TSE’s Substitute Minister’s functional portfolio, she was prevented from entering the building and destroyed by a surveillance agent.
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The case was made public by Minister Cármen Lúcia, president of the TSE, on Tuesday, 20, in a statement in the Plenary of the Electoral Court.
“This Electoral Justice awaits the results of what comes ascertained, however, if appropriate, adopting some action that is necessary,” charged Cármen.
The Public Ethics Commission of the Presidency of the Republic reported that “it does not hold any administrative or managerial responsibility on the property” and that hiring surveillance and reception services is directly done by the condominium responsible for building the building.
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“Given the severity of the report, the Public Ethics Commission is collaborating with the Union Attorney General in the adoption of appropriate measures with the management of the building, aiming at both the clarification of the facts and the liability of those involved,” the agency said in a statement.
The National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism said it became aware of the case by the press and that the security of the building is made by an outsourced company hired by the condominium administration.
According to CNC, the seminar’s entry control was being done from a nominal list delivered by the event organizers and the ordinance staff depended on this organization to release the entry of people who were not on the guest list.
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“The contact, to release the entry of the minister and speaker, was made by the ordinance employees with PGFN (LESSE), who contacted the AGU (responsible for the event), then returned to employees with the release. This whole process lasted about eight minutes, according to the video recordings of the ordinance,” said the National Confederation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism.
CNC also said that “vehemently repudiates any act of racism, as well as any form of discrimination.”
Law entities disclosed grades in defense of the minister. The Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) warns that “silence in the face of racism, exclusion and disrespect for institutions is also a form of connivance”. The Brazilian Lawyers Institute (IAB) expressed solidarity with the minister and classified the episode as “an unacceptable attempt to silence black voices in historically exclusive spaces, such as the Brazilian justice system.”
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The president of the Superior Military Court (STM), Minister Maria Elizabeth Rocha, argued that “criminal conduct need to be rejected with rigor” and require “accountability and reparation”.
Union General Public Defender Leonardo Magalhães said in a statement that the episode “is not restricted to an individual offense and reaches the whole society.” “Racism is a crime, affronts the Federal Constitution and must be faced uncompromisingly by all state institutions.”
