A First Panel of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) unanimously condemned the former director general of the PRF (Federal Highway Police) Silvinei Vasques a 24 years and six months in prison.
Silvinei will answer for the five crimes alleged in the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) complaint: armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d’état, damage to Union property and deterioration of listed property.
The former director general would have coordinated the use of police forces to make it difficult for voters considered unfavorable to Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to reach their polling places on the day of the second round of the 2022 elections.
Witness statements report that Silvinei said that “it was time for the PRF to take a side”.
In a vote, reporting minister Alexandre de Moraes stated that Silvinei coordinated a clear misuse of the state apparatus to hinder voters’ access to the polls and interfere with the electoral result.
The minister also pointed out the “criminal inertia” of the then general director of the PRF during the roadblocks by truck drivers after the elections.
“The PRF crossed its arms to stop countless federal highways, used to transport food and medicine… but they simply wouldn’t clear the obstructions. It took my determination,” said Moraes.
In addition to the prison sentence, the former director will also lose public office and must pay a 120-day fine worth one minimum wage.
This was the last group of those accused of the coup plot to be tried by the STF. Five were convicted, in addition to the other 24 already held responsible.
The sentences defined by the Court range from 1 year and 11 months to 27 years and 3 months in prison, the latter applied to Bolsonaro himself, considered the leader of the criminal organization.
Among all the defendants, only two were acquitted: general Estevam Cals Theophilusformer head of the Army Land Operations Command and the delegate Fernando Sousa de Oliveiraformer Director of Operations at the Ministry of Justice.
