The minister of the (Federal Supreme Court) threatened on Friday (23) arrested Aldo Rebelo for contempt during the testimony of the former defense minister as a witness to the lawsuit of the coup plot in the government ().
“If you do not behave, you will be arrested for contempt,” Moraes said after asking Aldo to be objective and to hear as an answer “I do not admit censorship.”
“I am behaving,” replied the former defense minister in the government of Dilma Rousseff (PT), with a trajectory linked to the left and approached the pockets in recent years.
Aldo was called to testify as a defense witness of former Navy Chief Almir Garnier Santos.
The clash with Moraes occurred after the former minister comments on the Portuguese language to justify Garnier’s speech that he would have made troops available to Bolsonaro.
“In the Portuguese language we know what is often used as the strength of expression. It can never be taken literally. When someone says it is fried, it does not mean that it is inside the frying pan. Or that it is tight, it does not mean that it is being subjected to a type of literal pressure,” said Aldo.
The former minister said that with this premise, it could not be understood literally a possible talk of Garnier about giving armed support to plans to keep Bolsonaro in power.
Moraes intervened. He said Aldo was not at the meeting where Garnier would have declared a coup d’état and, therefore, could not make statements about facts he did not witness.
“My appreciation of the Portuguese language is mine and I do not admit censorship,” replied the former minister. The Supreme Minister then made the statement about the possible arrest for contempt.
Aldo’s testimony was the most troubled in the process sequence of the process, which began on Monday (19).
After the first reprimand, the former minister made considerations about Garnier. The former navy chief accused by the coup plot was a helper of Aldo orders during the time he was in charge of, in 2015 and 2016.
The former minister also said that a Navy commander has no ability to mobilize troops without the triggering of a “chain of command”. “The Commander directs a table, a Birô; who commands the troop is the command of Naval Operations, the command of the Squadron […]. If it does not go through this command chain, the command is in fact only in the word, “he said.
Another moment of tension in the statement occurred how much Aldo said that “I would like to know if the inquiry found with this command structure if it was transmitted by the commander of the Navy some determination” related to the coup plot.
The PGR (Attorney General of the Republic), countered: “Who asks the question is the lawyers and the accusation. It is not the time for this to happen. Whoever knows is us, not the Lord.”
Moraes replied that if the former minister wanted to learn about the facts, he would have to read reports in the press.
The audience with Aldo still had a Gonet gaffe. With the microphone open while Moraes spoke, he said, “I made a shit now.”
The prosecutor’s reaction was recorded shortly after he asked the former minister if he considered that the Navy would have given up the coup d’état because the army had not adhered to the conspiracies. The question was considered as very broad, making room for an opinion instead of the testimony about facts.
“Doctor Paulo, ask objectively and the witness, please answer objectively. What is the question, Doctor Paulo, please?” Moraes said before the gaffe of Gonet.
Garnier responds to five crimes: armed criminal association, coup d’état, attempted abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, damage qualified to public heritage and deterioration of listed heritage.
Former aeronautics chief Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior confirmed to the Supreme on Wednesday (21) that Garnier agreed with Bolsonaro’s scammers.
“In one of these meetings, I have a very passive view of the Admiral. I remember Minister Paulo Sérgio and I talked more, we discussed more, we were taking the president more. In one of these meetings, the point where he said that the navy troops would be available to President Bolsonaro,” he said.
Aldo was a federal deputy for five terms by the BC PC. He even chaired the House during Lula’s first term between 2005 and 2007. He headed the defense in the Dilma government and, before, was Minister of Sport, from 2011 to 2015, and institutional relations in the first government between 2004 and 2005.
He was also president of the House of Representatives, from 2005 to 2007. In the 2022 election, he played the Senate in Sao Paulo, but was in seventh place.
The former minister began to break relations with the left before the Bolsonaro government. He said in interviews that he was not comfortable on the modern left. Last year, he decided to join the MDB and took office in the City of São Paulo of (MDB).
Since 2023 Aldo has been a defender that attacks on the headquarters of the powers on January 8 have not been an attempt to coup. His statements have been shared by Bolsonaro and allies.
