Former ministers release open letter asking Supreme Court to guarantee police action “guided by respect for life and court orders”

Ministers who served in the Cardoso, Lula da Silva and Rousseff governments speak out at a time when the Supreme Court can require Rio de Janeiro to create a plan to reduce lethality

Manifestantes pintam de vermelho quatro cadeiras simulando sangue. Atrás, uma faixa diz "Não foi operação foi chacina".

Six former justice ministers have signed an open letter calling on the Supreme Court to recognize the need to establish rules to reduce police lethality in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. On Monday, May 24, Justice Alexandre de Moraes formally requested an adjournment in the judgment of the appeal filed by the PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party), NGOs and social movements engaged in ADPF (Allegation of Violation of a Fundamental Precept) Case No. 635, known as the ADPF Favelas Case. The letter also criticizes the operation of the Civil Police that left 27 dead in the Jacarezinho favela.

“As former ministers and citizens, we are convinced of the need for action by the Supreme Court to uphold the legal force of the Constitution and restrict state action in public security that is not guided by respect for life and court orders,” reads the document. The letter was signed by José Carlos Dias, Miguel Reale Júnior and José Gregori (government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso); Tarso Genro (government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva); and José Eduardo Cardozo and Eugênio Aragão (government of Dilma Rousseff).

The signatories said they have been following the case of the Jacarezinho favela “with dismay” and have misgivings about the claim that the operation had been planned, particularly in view of the Supreme Court’s precautionary measures from 2020 that restrict police operations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Citing the Vice President of the Republic, Hamilton Mourão, the letter also said it is “unacceptable that the authorities, before concluding investigations and even after several reports of abuse and extrajudicial killings, justified the deaths on the grounds that ‘they were all criminals’.”

ADPF Favelas Case

Starting on Friday, May 21, a virtual session of the Supreme Court has been judging an appeal concerning the precautionary measures approved by the Court in August 2020 that restricted police operations in Rio de Janeiro during the Covid-19 pandemic. The appeal was filed by the PSB and by NGOs and social movements engaged in ADPF Case No. 635, better known as the ADPF Favelas Case.

The first justice to vote, on the same Friday, was the rapporteur of the case Edson Fachin, who recognized all the requests of the organizations. In his vote, Fachin ordered the government of Rio de Janeiro to prepare a plan to reduce police lethality within 90 days. The judgment was suspended on Monday, May 24, after Justice Alexandre de Moraes requested an adjournment.