Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), ordered the shelving of investigations that found publications made by federal deputy André Fernandes (PL-CE) and former federal deputy Sílvia Waiãpi (PL-AP) incited the attacks on January 8, 2023 on the headquarters of the Three Powers. The decisions accept statements from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), which concluded that there were no elements to file a complaint, despite the Federal Police having pointed out signs of crime in both cases.
When archiving the investigations, Moraes stated that, according to the accusatory system provided for in the Constitution, it is up to the Public Ministry to decide whether to file a complaint or to shelve the investigations. “As the Public Ministry requested the archiving within the legal deadline (…) I welcome the statement from the Attorney General’s Office and I grant the archiving of this investigation”, wrote the minister.
André Fernandes’ inquiry originated from two publications made by the deputy. On January 6, 2023, two days before the invasions, he wrote on a social network: “This weekend, at Praça dos Três Poderes, the first act against the Lula government will take place. We will be there.” On January 8th, during the attacks, he shared an image of a vandalized cabinet at the STF with the inscription “Alexandre de Moraes” and the caption: “Whoever laughs goes to jail”.
InfoMoney Tool
Download now (and for free)!
Upon concluding the investigation, the Federal Police stated that the parliamentarian committed the crime of incitement provided for in article 286 of the Penal Code. According to the report, the second publication demonstrated that Fernandes “consisted with the depredation of public property carried out by the mob that was in Praça dos Três Poderes and gave it even more publicity”, in addition to revealing “his real intention” by publishing the call two days before the attacks.
The PGR, however, adopted the opposite understanding. For the organization, the first post made a generic reference to a protest against the government, without directing the commission of crimes, while the second had no ability to influence the perpetrators of the invasions. In the statement reproduced by Moraes, the Prosecutor’s Office stated that “replicating content already known by thousands makes it impossible to know the level of influence of the investigated person’s stance, which makes causality (…) just an unprovable assumption”.
The investigation against Sílvia Waiãpi was opened after the former parliamentarian shared, on January 8, a video accompanied by the message: “People take the Esplanada dos Ministérios this Sunday! Takeover of power by the Brazilian people dissatisfied with the red government”.
In its report, the Federal Police stated that the conduct could characterize the crime of incitement and noted that, on the date of publication, Waiãpi had not yet been certified as a federal deputy, which is why “no [era] coated with criminal immunity for opinions, words and votes”.
When requesting the archiving, however, the PGR maintained that the video was not produced by the parliamentarian and only reproduced content that was already circulating on social media when the attacks had already occurred. The organization stated that the publication “reported the undemocratic acts already carried out on 1/8/2023” and that, therefore, “there is no causal link between the criminal practices that occurred and the post made”. The Prosecutor’s Office also highlighted that no publication was found prior to January 8 in which Waiãpi encouraged the commission of crimes, concluding that there was no just cause to continue the investigation.
The two investigations were opened by Moraes in January 2023, at the request of the PGR itself, to investigate the possible commission of crimes of incitement and attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law. With archiving, investigations are closed, but may be reopened if new evidence emerges.
