(Superior Military Court) in history, almost saw the court change a bicentennial tradition to prevent the minister from assuming the presidency of the court.
Election is a formal act that confirms a traditional agreement in . Every two years, the presidency is transferred between the categories represented (Navy, Army, Air Force and civilians). Assumes the oldest among the togados.
At Elizabeth’s time and turn, minister Péricles de Queiroz decided to present his candidacy, in an atypical move. The votes were collected, in secret, at the STM ballot box last Thursday (5). In the fiercest dispute in the military court since the end of , the minister won by 8 votes to 7.
“It was painful, I won’t deny it”, says Maria Elizabeth in an interview with Sheet.
She stated that women’s rights “are not given, they are snatched away with ‘forceps'”.
This will be the . The first time, in 2014, she assumed a buffer mandate. This time, she intends to find a place for Military Justice in the (National Council of Justice) and include it in the Military Penal Code.
The current president of the STM, minister Joseli Parente, says that despite tradition, there is no rule that determines who will command the court and that there was “nothing unusual” in the internal election.
What brand do you have? Do you want to leave your second term as president of the STM?
Before anything else, I want to approve the PEC that includes the Union’s Military Justice in the National Justice Council. When amendment 45 reformed the Judiciary, it forgot the seat that was due to the Military Justice. We submit to the CNJ’s resolutions, we comply with the protocols and recommendations. It is not fair that we do not have a voice with such a relevant body, which is the control body of the Judiciary.
It is also important to update our Code of Criminal Procedure, which dates back to 1969. There remain laws, criminal types that are anachronistic within our legislation and deserve to be purged from there. Even to defend minorities, defend women. With greater female integration in the Armed Forces, there are now crimes that were not common, such as sexual harassment and moral harassment. We need to take a different look at these crimes.
Are there other issues related to women that deserve updating in the Military Penal Code?
It is not just military hierarchy and discipline that we have to safeguard. There are other values, like the integrity of women, like the issue of racism, like transphobia, that we have to combat.
For example, we cannot apply the Maria da Penha Law. There was, unfortunately, a veto by the President of the Republic [Lula]when the Military Penal Code was changed, which said that domestic violence was not a military crime, even if the woman and the aggressor are military personnel.
How is it possible, for example, for us to provide protective measures for victimized women? Without entering into the jurisdiction of a forum that is not ours, which is the civil forum, under penalty of absolute nullity of the judgment. Military women end up being revictimized institutionally, because the law authorizes that, in these cases of violence, the military court is not the competent judging body.
These seem like progressive agendas for the main military court.
That’s what I intend. A more progressive management, a management that privileges difference, the issue of human genders that are so diverse and varied and that have to be welcomed and protected by the State.
I think that if there is one lesson learned from everything we are experiencing, it is that both the Constitutions and the democratic State are unfinished projects. We have to permanently build the Constitution and democracy. These are projects for future generations.
The STM is historically punitive for soldiers caught with drugs and guarantor for homicide cases, as in the case of Guadalupe [onde duas pessoas foram mortas por militares, no Rio, em 2019]. Like Mrs. see this dilemma?
We seek reasonableness and proportionality in judgments. I, as everyone knows, am the court’s anti-majority vote, because perhaps I am the only one of my kind who has a different view of the world. There needs to be awareness among our colleagues, our peers, to punish what truly deserves punishment.
Mrs. she was elected by one vote, in an atypical and fierce dispute. What was this process like?
It was painful, I won’t deny it. It was by one vote difference, my vote. The point is that seniority has always been a consolidated rule that prevails in all courts in the country. I attribute the resistance to two primary issues.
Firstly, Brazilian society is divided and I represent a more progressive side, a side that defends certain guarantees and rights that are not very well regarded by the other side. And also the fact that I am a woman.
I often say I broke the glass ceiling. I voted for myself, but all the judges were with me in my vote. And what I can say is that the pieces didn’t fall on me — they fell on a patriarchal society, a sexist society, which confines human beings in pre-determined places.
I am a feminist, and society is patriarchal. Our rights are not given, they are ripped away with “forceps”. They are removed, with a lot of struggle and a lot of achievement on the part of those who are segregated. Therefore, this situation does not surprise me.
What assessment do you make of Lula’s choices for the higher courts, with the reduction of women in the STF?
I see it with great sadness, it was a campaign promise. We believed in it and continue to believe in it. There are now two vacancies to be filled at the STJ [Superior Tribunal de Justiça]two women are going to retire. There will be a new vacancy for my court. I sincerely hope that this campaign promise, which is so dear to all of us, to democratic society, will be effectively carried out.
The soldiers investigated by January 8 and the coup plot are not being tried by the STM. There is a feeling of impunity in Military Justice.
All cases linked to January 8th are under the responsibility of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, for prevention. He was the first to judge those suspected of attacking democracy. This is natural, it is the normal process.
The STM will judge possible convicts for the indignity of officialdom. If someone is sentenced to more than two years, with final judgment, the case goes to the Military Court and then we will try them.
That’s what’s up to us in this case. There is no impunity on our part.
X-ray | Maria Elizabeth Guimarães Teixeira Rocha, 64
She was nominated by Lula for a position at the STM in 2007. She has a doctorate in constitutional law from UFMG. She worked as a federal prosecutor, legal advisor to the Chamber of Deputies, the TSE and the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic. She is a full professor at UniCeub, in Brasília, and a visiting professor at the University of Buenos Aires and the Javeriana University, in Bogotá, Colombia.
