The minister of the (Superior Military Court) suggested that the president of the court, , study more the country’s history after she apologized to the victims of (1964-1985).
The dispute arose after Maria Elizabeth gave a two-minute speech last Saturday (25), at the Sé Cathedral, in São Paulo, in memory of the journalist — murdered 50 years ago by .
“I am present at this ecumenical act of 2025 to, as president of the Military Justice of the Union, ask for forgiveness from all who fell and suffered fighting for freedom in Brazil”, said Elizabeth at the beginning of her speech.
The entire audience that attended the ecumenical act stood up to applaud the president of the STM. The broadcast of the event cut Elizabeth’s image and showed, in the audience, former minister José Dirceu endorsing the speech.
The minister of the military court continued her speech asking for forgiveness for the “judicial errors and omissions committed during the dictatorship” and cited some of the victims of murder and torture: Herzog, , , and , among others.
“I finally ask forgiveness from Brazilian society and the country’s history for the judicial mistakes committed by the Federal Military Justice to the detriment of democracy and in favor of the authoritarian regime. Please accept my forgiveness, my pain and my resistance”, concluded Elizabeth in her brief speech.
The speech by the president of the STM caused outrage among ministers. One of the members of the military court told the Sheetwith reservation, that the image of Dirceu applauding Elizabeth was one of the main reasons for the indisposition of the military members sitting in the court.
Maria Elizabeth is the first minister to preside over the Superior Military Court in more than 200 years of history. , the election of the minister was the fiercest ever in the military court — with a wing of the court willing to end the bicentennial tradition of succession to the presidency to prevent her from taking office.
The person responsible for criticizing Elizabeth was Minister Carlos Augusto Amaral Oliveira, an Air Force soldier. He asked to speak at the STM session on Thursday (30), to read a speech in opposition to the president of the court.
Oliveira said he would not comment on Elizabeth’s speech because “freedom of opinion is, above all, a constitutional guarantee, and everyone can have their own, however absurd it may be.”
He stated that the discomfort was about the minister speaking out as president of the Union Military Justice, giving the wrong idea that her statements would be consensual in the STM.
“I ask for a record of my statement since, in the future, these positions — with which I disagree — will certainly be the object of study by historical archaeologists, who, I am sure, will be intrigued by a supposed unanimity on a topic that certainly requires reflection from society,” he continued.
Oliveira, soon after, went on to talk about the merit of Elizabeth’s speech. He said that the minister’s position “adds nothing to the superficiality and political approach” and raised doubts about the event being, in fact, ecumenical.
The military minister said that his statement was not about censoring the content of the minister’s speech. Then, however, he suggested that Elizabeth study the period of the dictatorship before speaking on behalf of the court.
“I reaffirm that there is no censorship on my part regarding the content of what our minister can or cannot say, although I suggest she study a little more of the court’s history to give her opinion on the situation in the historical period to which she referred to the people from whom she asked for forgiveness,” he said.
Oliveira also said that he guarantees Elizabeth her freedom of opinion, “something that even I don’t see much in this group that is represented in her speeches.”
