President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva fully sanctioned the law approved by the National Congress that seeks to toughen the fight against organized crime and expand the personal protection of public agents who work to combat these criminals. Published in the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU), law no. 15,245 typifies the conduct of “obstruction” and “conspiracy to obstruct” actions against organized crime.
“In the event of a risk situation, arising from the exercise of their function, by judicial authorities or members of the Public Ministry, active or not, including retirees, and their families, the fact will be communicated to the judicial police, which will assess the need, the institutional conditions vis-à-vis other police bodies, the scope and parameters of personal protection”, says the law.
The text extends personal protection to all professionals in the public security forces, Armed Forces, judicial authorities and members of the Public Ministry – with special attention to those who combat organized crime in border regions.
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The new law also amends the Penal Code to extend the crime of “criminal association” – with a penalty of one to three years in prison – to anyone who “requests or contracts the commission of a crime from a member of a criminal association, regardless of the application of the penalty corresponding to the crime requested or contracted”.
The text also amends the 2013 law that defines a criminal organization, including two articles on “obstruction” and “conspiracy to obstruct” actions against organized crime – when two or more people join together to commit the crime.
In both cases, a prison sentence of 4 to 12 years is established, in addition to a fine, for anyone who “requests, by promising or granting an advantage of any nature, or orders someone to commit violence or a serious threat against a public agent, lawyer, public defender, juror, witness, collaborator or expert, with the aim of preventing, embarrassing or retaliating against the regular progress of proceedings or investigations of crimes committed by a criminal organization or the approval of any measure against organized crime”.
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Both pre-trial detainees and those convicted of these crimes must begin serving their sentences in a maximum security federal penal institution.
