By JULIAN RODRIGUES*
Approving PEC 5, which restructures the National Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office, is urgent – the start of a long process to democratize the justice system
"I created a monster". Who says this is one of the creators of the legislation that gave the Public Prosecutor's Office its current appearance, in the government of José Sarney, even before the 1988 Constitution. it is unavoidable.
The initial intention was positive. Provide autonomy and functional independence to a body of public officials, highly qualified legal professionals who should promote civil inquiry and public action, watch over public assets, the interests of society, defend social and diffuse rights, the environment, overseeing executives, defending citizens, enforcing laws and fighting corruption.
In the early 1990s, still under the democratic impulse of the social mobilizations that overthrew the dictatorship and built the “Citizen Charter”, the role of the Public Ministry seemed progressive, allied with social movements, with combative figures, operating in favor of expanding rights, combating abuses. Prosecutors/attorneys gained functional and administrative autonomy, tenure, tenure. Any bachelor in law, with three years of legal practice can become a member of the MP, if approved in a public tender.
Progressively, the Public Prosecutor’s Office is molding itself to the old Brazilian justice system – racist, elitist and bourgeois. It takes shape as an elite of highly privileged civil servants. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office alone will add R$5,3 billion to the public budget in 2021. The salaries of prosecutors, whether federal or state, far exceed the basic monthly salary of R$30. There are endless perks and frills. Brazil is the country that spends the most resources on the MP.
The MP is a true white ball club: 77% of its members are white people, and, of course, 70% are men. Young people from the upper middle class who leave law schools and dedicate themselves exclusively, for years on end, to memorizing data mechanically – preparing to pass highly competitive and exclusive civil service exams. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the Public Ministry is the protagonist of penal punitivism and the mass incarceration of poor blacks in Brazil.
Let Rosângela Sibele de Almeida, 41 years old, hungry mother, arrested for stealing ramen noodles and powdered juice from a supermarket (worth R$21): “although the value of the theft is negligible, the woman was kept in custody after the custody hearing in court, with arrest in flagrante delicto converted into preventive at the request of the Public Ministry of São Paulo. The argument used by the prosecution was that the accused already had other records of thefts”.
Rosângela was imprisoned for about two weeks, and her case had to reach the STJ to be released. Check the level of reaction of the MP and the Judiciary of São Paulo – they do not recognize either starving theft or the principle of insignificance.
Deltan's impunity
To cut the conversation short: every Lava Jato scheme – right-wing, coup-mongering, anti-people – had the Public Prosecutor's Office as the protagonist. And it wasn't just the group from Curitiba. Rodrigo Janot, then Attorney General, was in line with most of his peers across the country.
A figure as minuscule as Deltan Dallagnol did not become the nation's second great vigilante – Batman's Robin (Moro) – without the support not only of the media and the bourgeoisie, but also of his peers throughout Brazil – prosecutors and judges, all taken by a grotesque anti-petism.
Deltan, white, 40 years old, from the interior of Paraná, from an evangelical family and the son of a prosecutor, passed the MP exam at 23, even before finishing law school. He took office after a controversial court decision. Controversy that also surrounds his “master's degree” at Harvard. The fact is that yes, he was well trained in US theories and was a good operator of the interests of the US Department of Justice.
Dallagnol acted without any control. He led a group of prosecutors who committed all kinds of fraud and abuse, in an alleged anti-corruption crusade, whose objective was to overthrow Dilma, criminalize the PT and arrest Lula. Megalomaniac, he tried to change the country's legislation, wanted to overthrow the PT and refound the republic. Wannabe, raised to pop star, made a lot of money from speaking engagements. Corrupt, he tried to set up a fund of 2,5 billion for himself and his colleagues, with money from Petrobras. Now we know that he also guided and wrote the award-winning statements – directing everything to destroy the PT.
Dallagnol's crimes have been well known since the beginning of the leaks. But then what happened to him? (Moro left the judiciary, became Bolsonaro’s minister, became demoralized, left the government and went to win a lot of money In the USA). About that Nadica nothing affects the prodigy boy of Pato Branco. Minto: in September 2019, the National Council of the Public Ministry (CNMP) imposed on him the symbolic penalty of “censorship”, for having extrapolated the limits of freedom of expression – in the case in which he offended Renan Calheiros.
And all the disgrace he did at Lava-Jato? So it is. In August 2020, after 42 postponements (yes, 42 really), the lawsuit filed by Lula against Deltan – back in 2016 – was archived by the National Council of the Public Ministry because any penalties would already be prescribed. A giant pizza (leaked conversations showed that Dallagnol had contacts within the CNMP who protected him from the beginning).
In short: if not even the criminal Deltan Dallagnol was punished by the National Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office, what purpose does this body serve anyway?
a first step
It is therefore necessary to start putting this little monster (MP) back in the cage. Among the profound reforms to be carried out in the Brazilian justice system, a good start is to approve Proposal for Constitutional Amendment number 5, of 2021. PEC 5 is a beautiful idea of federal deputy Paulo Teixeira (PT-SP). She is simple. And it proved to be accurate, in view of the virulent contrary reaction of the princes and princesses of the MP.
PEC 5 changes the composition of the CNMP, increasing the number of members, with more weight for the nominations of the National Congress and of all MP careers. It also takes away the power of MP members themselves to elect the National Corregidor and determines that they draw up a Code of Ethics for the institution. A little thing left the gang in an uproar. And they mobilize their allies in the mainstream media, and other depoliticized sensitives.
Those who are progressive, from the democratic camp and on the left must not waver or harbor illusions. The Public Ministry is a conservative corporation, part of the structure of the oligarchic and racist Brazilian State. He was a key player in the 2016 coup and continues to militate against the popular camp. PEC 5 is a minimum arrangement brake so that society has some mechanism of control over this caste of right-wing rich white people full of powers.
All support for PEC 5!
* Julian Rodrigues is a teacher, journalist and human rights activist.
