The president of , (-PB), admitted that the former deputy (-RJ) was impeached through a decision by the Board of Directors of the House and not through a vote in the plenary to avoid a new conflict with the (Supreme Federal Court).
During an interview with journalists this Friday (19), Motta also banged on the table when commenting on the Bolsonaro riot and the taking of his seat by the suspended deputy (-RJ). He said he will use force in these situations and that the president’s seat must be respected.
Motta’s change in strategy in relation to Ramagem occurred because of the imbroglio surrounding the impeachment, last week, of (PL-SP), who, like the former deputy, was condemned by the STF to loss of mandate — the court’s understanding is that the Chamber has to comply with the impeachment, while Motta, at first, defended that the final decision would be made by the plenary and not by the Judiciary.
“The issue of Ramagem, which was scheduled to go to the plenary, by decision of the leaders and members of the Board, and to avoid a new episode of conflict, of institutional stress, there was a decision to decide this by the Board,” said Motta.
The president also stated that he decided to plan, at the end of the year, the decisions on the impeachment of Ramagem, Zambelli, (PL-SP) and Glauber so that the issue does not drag on to 2026 and disrupt coexistence in the House.
“I decided to address these issues so that the Chamber could take a position, respecting the will of the plenary. The plenary is sovereign to decide, mainly, about the mandate. […] It’s never a nice topic, it’s not a topic we like, it always brings some level of embarrassment, but it’s our job to face the issues on the table”, he added.
Only the cases of Glauber and Zambelli were decided by the plenary. The PSOL deputy’s impeachment recommendation for attacking a right-wing activist was transformed into a six-month suspension by the deputies, while Zambelli’s mandate was also saved by the majority.
The following day, however, the STF ordered the Chamber to declare Zambelli’s loss of mandate, who is imprisoned in Italy and awaiting a decision on extradition to Brazil. Faced with the impasse, the political solution created by Motta was the deputy’s resignation, signed on Sunday (14).
Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has been in the US since March, was revoked by the Board for having exceeded the maximum number of absences allowed by the Constitution.
The Board’s decision regarding Ramagem, however, was based on the excessive future absences of the former director general of Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency), who fled to the USA and has an open arrest warrant, and not on the conviction of the STF for participating in the coup plot.
Motta did not clarify whether there was inconsistency in the different decisions in relation to Zambelli and Ramagem or why the former deputy lost his mandate due to future misconduct and not because of his conviction.
Ramagem is condemned to a closed regime. He is abroad of his own free will. If he decides to stay abroad, he will not fulfill his mandate. If he returns to Brazil, he won’t fulfill his mandate either, because he will be serving his sentence”, he simply replied.
The President of the House was also questioned about the difference in treatment in relation to Glauber, who refused to leave Motta’s seat in protest and was forcibly removed by the legislative police last week, and the Bolsonaro deputies who occupied the plenary for more than 30 hours in August.
“I wasn’t going for physical confrontation [no caso do motim]. To prevent this from becoming a reoccurrence, in Glauber’s case I made another decision, not to let the mutiny grow and physically withdraw. You can be sure that the position of the presidency, if this happens again, will be the same as it was with Glauber”, he replied.
At that moment, Motta knocked on the table. “The presidency of the Chamber of Deputies must be respected. The president’s seat cannot be occupied in any way,” he said.
He also stated that he hopes that the Ethics Council will be pedagogical when punishing the rioters and that there were attempts to delay the progress of the process, which will only be completed next year.
