Carandiru: minister suspends part of decree pardoning police officers

The President of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Minister Rosa Weber, decided to suspend part of the pardon decree, signed in December by former President Jair Bolsonaro, in which he granted amnesty to police officers convicted of the Carandiru Massacre. She responded to a request made by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR), for whom the last Christmas pardon granted by Bolsonaro is unconstitutional for affronting human dignity and principles of international law, for granting amnesty to those involved in crimes against humanity. In one of its articles, the decree specifically grants amnesty to public security agents who have been convicted of an act that occurred more than 30 years ago, if the crime was not considered heinous at the time it was committed. For the PGR, this section was edited specifically to benefit the police officers involved in Carandiru. In her decision, Minister Rosa Weber considered the arguments plausible and decided to grant an injunction (injunction) to suspend part of the decree, in view of the delay in analysis by the rapporteur, Minister Luiz Fux, who should only look into the case in February , due to the recess of the Judiciary. The suspension aims “to avoid the immediate consummation of concrete irreversible effects”, she wrote. As president of the Federal Supreme Court, Rosa Weber is responsible for the judicial duty during the recess, and can make decisions on requests that she deems urgent. How it was The Carandiru Massacre took place in October 1992, when police repression of a prison rebellion resulted in the death of 111 inmates. In the end, Jury Court decisions on the case resulted in the conviction of 73 police officers, with sentences ranging from 48 to 624 years in prison. Such convictions, however, were suspended by decision of the São Paulo Court of Justice (TJ-SP) from 2016 until last year, when they were reinstated by Justice Joel Ilan Parcionik, of the Superior Court of Justice. His decision was later confirmed by the Fifth Panel of the STJ. Some convicts also appealed to the Federal Supreme Court (STF), but, in August last year, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso decided to maintain the convictions, effectively closing the possibilities of appeal.

Agência Brasil