{"id":35167,"date":"2022-02-17T17:30:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T17:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=litigiopt&#038;p=35167"},"modified":"2022-03-30T16:14:05","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T16:14:05","slug":"adi-6852-power-of-public-defenders-offices-to-request-documents-debated-in-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"litigiopt","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/litigiopt\/adi-6852-power-of-public-defenders-offices-to-request-documents-debated-in-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"ADI 6852: power of Public Defender\u2019s Offices to request documents debated in Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tts_content_wrapper_1\" ><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Prosecutor-General, Augusto Aras, filed 23 cases in the Supreme Court alleging the unconstitutionality of the power of Public Defender&#8217;s Offices in the country to request access to public documents. Broadly speaking, Aras is challenging a federal law from 1994 and other state regulations that provide for this mechanism for public defenders.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In practice, the ability to request documents is necessary to overcome the lack of access to information faced by vulnerable people and, as a result, make the judicial system less unequal. It can also prevent cases from going to court, which is desirable given the overburdened justice system. Any limitation of this power is unconstitutional and would have an immeasurable impact on access to the justice system particularly for the poor and black population.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Together with Legal Department XI August, Amparar, Peregum Institute and UNEAFRO Brazil, Conectas is participating in <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/portal.stf.jus.br\/processos\/detalhe.asp?incidente=6181989\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ADI (Direct Action of Unconstitutionality) No. 6852, one of the cases that made it to the Supreme Court in 2021<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as an amicus curiae.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the amicus curiae request, the organizations emphasized that the power of Public Defender\u2019s Offices to request documents helps compensate for the deficient access to information by economically vulnerable people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe people defended by the Public Defender\u2019s Office are subject to poverty and lack of adequate education, and they belong to economically, legally and organizationally disadvantaged groups, which makes it even more necessary to invest in expanding the scope of the protection network created by the work of the institution,\u201d reads an excerpt of the request.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On February 11, ADI 6852&nbsp;was heard in a virtual session of the Supreme Court.&nbsp;The justices rejected, by 10 votes, the petition of the Office of the Prosecutor General for Public Defender\u2019s Offices to be stripped of their power to request public documents when defending vulnerable people. The petition was rejected by the justices Edson Fachin, rapporteur of the case, Alexandre de Moraes, Rosa Weber, Gilmar Mendes, Lu\u00eds Roberto Barroso, Dias Toffoli, Andr\u00e9 Mendon\u00e7a, \u200bRicardo Lewandowski, Kassio Nunes Marques and Luiz Fux.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><b>Technical information<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Case:&nbsp;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ADI 6852<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Court:&nbsp;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Supreme Court<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Status:&nbsp;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being hear<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Procedure:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">05\/20\/2021 \u2013 Petition filed by the Office of the Prosecutor General<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">11\/10\/2021 \u2013 Request by Conectas for amicus curiae status accepted&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">11\/12\/2021 \u2013 On the same day the judgment began, Justice Alexandre de Moraes requested an adjournment<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">02\/11\/2022 \u2013 Case included on Court\u2019s case schedule&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">02\/21\/2022 \u2013 Majority of court justices voted to dismiss case\u2019s petition<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><div class=\"tts__custom-position_bottom_fixed\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"featured_media":34772,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"temaltigio":[12274],"categoria_litigio":[13267],"class_list":["post-35167","litigiopt","type-litigiopt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","temaltigio-democracy-and-human-rights-movement","categoria_litigio-adi-6852-en"],"acf":{"subtitle-pt":"Organizations consider it unconstitutional to restrict this prerogative of public defenders","links_para_referencia":false,"noticias":{"noticia1":{"ID":34752,"post_author":"26","post_date":"2022-02-11 12:59:11","post_date_gmt":"2022-02-11 12:59:11","post_content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After learning of the case of a person detained for petty theft at the Itatinga Pre-Trial Detention Center, in the state of S\u00e3o Paulo, the State Public Defender\u2019s Office requested from the facility a list of all the people imprisoned there for the same crime, in which the value of the stolen property is considered insignificant. In cases like this, the accused can be released on bail or not even face charges.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This was how the courts, through habeas corpus petitions, ordered the<\/span><b>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www1.folha.uol.com.br\/colunas\/monicabergamo\/2021\/11\/defensoria-de-sp-consegue-soltar-7-acusados-de-furtos-pequenos-apos-acesso-a-documentos.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">release of seven people<\/a>&nbsp;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in early November 2021. Among them was a man who stole a used wheelchair, another who stole a pair of pliers worth R$19.90 and a third who stole R$10 worth of old wires. In one of these cases, involving the theft of an iron fence, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes reiterated the decision to release the detainee.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These cases by public defenders were only possible thanks to their ability to request documents from public bodies, which preceded the petitions for release from detention. It is this kind of access to information that the Prosecutor-General Augusto Aras intends to block.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In May 2021, Aras filed 23 cases in the Supreme Court claiming the unconstitutionality of this power by the country\u2019s Public Defender\u2019s Offices, seeking to overturn a piece of federal legislation from 1994 and other state rules that are, in fact, organic laws that are fundamental for the existence of these Offices. Starting on February 11, some of these cases will start to be heard by a virtual session of the Supreme Court.<\/span>\r\n<h2><b>The importance of the power to request information<\/b><\/h2>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was thanks to this power to request information that, in June last year, the Specialized Center on the Prison Situation of the S\u00e3o Paulo State Public Defender\u2019s Office was able to denounce Brazil to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) for failing to respond to the crimes of torture that occurred in the Cedro unit of the Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Casa youth reform center in S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a petition to the IACHR, the S\u00e3o Paulo State Public Defender\u2019s Office identified that 147 children and adolescents in the custody of the State between 2015 and 2017 had been victims of physical violence, isolation and threats. The document contains accounts and photos of aggression using belts, chains, broom handles, bricks and chairs.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Raissa Belintani, a lawyer and coordinator of the Strengthening Democratic Space Program at Conectas, one of the Prosecutor-General\u2019s arguments is that the power to request documents from public bodies breaks the \u201cbalance of the procedural relationship\u201d and infringes on the \u201cparity of weaponry\u201d between public defenders and lawyers.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe prerogative to request information is one of the few tools that the law grants to balance the procedural relationship in favor of people assisted by the Public Defender\u2019s Office. It applies the defense of the legal interests of those who are vulnerable, guaranteeing access to documentation that could otherwise not be obtained,\u201d said Belintani.<\/span>\r\n<h2><b>Inequality in Justice&nbsp;<\/b><\/h2>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLimiting the role of public defenders is unconstitutional and will further increase the inequality in the justice system. Public defenders are already working beyond their capacity. The loss of this prerogative would have an immeasurable negative impact on access to justice by a population that, for the most part, is made up of black and poor people who cannot afford to pay for their right to defense,\u201d she added.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lawyer also notes that these requests are made outside the courts, which is positive in the context of an overloaded justice system. Furthermore, the requests of public defenders are in no way exempt from judicial review in the event of possible abuse.<\/span>\r\n<h2><b>ADI Case 6862<\/b><\/h2>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conectas Human Rights, Legal Department XI August, Amparar, Peregum Institute and UNEAFRO Brazil addressed the Supreme Court as an amicus curiae in <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/portal.stf.jus.br\/processos\/detalhe.asp?incidente=6181989\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>ADI Case 6852<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 one of the cases submitted by the Office of the Prosecutor-General. In the request for admission as amicus curiae, the organizations emphasized that the power of public defenders to request documents helps compensate for the deficient access to information by economically vulnerable people.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe people defended by the Public Defender\u2019s Office are subject to poverty and lack of adequate education, and they belong to economically, legally and organizationally disadvantaged groups, which makes it even more necessary to invest in expanding the scope of the protection network created by the collective action of the institution,\u201d they said.<\/span>","post_title":"How the actions of Augusto Aras threaten the work of Public Defender\u2019s Offices in the defense of the most vulnerable people","post_excerpt":"After learning of the case of a person detained for petty theft at the Itatinga Pre-Trial Detention Center, in the state of S\u00e3o Paulo, the State Public Defender\u2019s Office requested from the facility a list of all the people imprisoned there for the same crime, in which the value of the stolen property is considered insignificant.","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"how-the-actions-of-augusto-aras-threaten-the-work-of-public-defenders-offices-in-the-defense-of-the-most-vulnerable-people","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2022-02-16 14:53:08","post_modified_gmt":"2022-02-16 14:53:08","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&#038;p=34752","menu_order":467,"post_type":"noticia","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"noticia2":{"ID":17650,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2019-07-22 17:55:07","post_date_gmt":"2019-07-22 17:55:07","post_content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last Friday (19) a Provisional Measure, MP 888\/2019MP, was published in the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Di\u00e1rio Oficial da Uni\u00e3o<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This allows for Federal Executive public servants at the Public Defender\u2019s Office to be kept on. They currently represent 63% of the workforce of this institution.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The text guarantees 43 branches of the Public Defender\u2019s Office will continue functioning. These are located in towns throughout the whole of rural Brazil. Otherwise, these branches could have been closed down through understaffing.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The document was signed by President Jair Bolsonaro following pressure from civil society. In a letter, over 300 organisations expressed repudiation of the possibility of these branches of the Defender\u2019s Office becoming extinct and demanded that the federal government adopt suitable measures to ensure that this institution continues to function as it does now.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition, they also stressed how important it is for these offices to work fully, as they are a tool that provides access to justice for the historically vulnerable, the elderly, children, teenagers, indigenous people and people living on the streets, among others.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The compulsory return of workers was set out in Law 13.328, of 2016, that had defined a limit of three years for the civil servants to stay at the Public Defender\u2019s Office. Once the deadline was up the institution would have had to return these defenders to their original posts or reimburse the government for the value of the worker\u2019s costs.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Carta-de-apoio-da-sociedade-civil-a-Defensoria-Pu%CC%81blica-da-Unia%CC%83o-pela-manutenc%CC%A7a%CC%83o-das-43-unidades-ameac%CC%A7adas-de-fechamento-no-pai%CC%81s.pdf\"><b>\u00a0Read the full document here<\/b><\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","post_title":"Following pressure, government publishes Provisional Measure that ensures civil servants will be kept on at the Public Defender\u2019s Office","post_excerpt":"Measure guarantees 43 branches of the Public Defender\u2019s Office, that could have been closed through understaffing, will stay open","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"following-pressure-government-publishes-provisional-measure-that-ensures-civil-servants-will-be-kept-on-at-the-public-defenders-office","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-04-05 14:43:07","post_modified_gmt":"2021-04-05 14:43:07","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&#038;p=17650","menu_order":2121,"post_type":"noticia","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},"noticia3":{"ID":13226,"post_author":"2","post_date":"2018-07-23 19:49:36","post_date_gmt":"2018-07-23 19:49:36","post_content":"Civil society organisations spoke up against the approval of Law n\u00ba 16.786, of 2018, published this Wednesday 4, allowing full, free legal assistance, by means of the State Public Defender\u2019s office, to civil police in S\u00e3o Paulo who are involved in cases that require judicial support in the course of duty.\r\n\r\nIn a letter addressed to the Superior Council of the Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office of the State of S\u00e3o Paulo and the State Secretary of the Chief of Staff, organisations state that the draft bill, passed by the Governor M\u00e1rcio Fran\u00e7a, is unconstitutional and undermines access to justice of those who do not have financial means and need to be represented by the Public Defender\u2019s Office.\r\n\r\nFourteen years ago, the Supreme Court looked into a similar case, when the state of Rio Grande do Sul tried to adopt the same measure. The Supreme Court decision in\u00a0<u><a href=\"http:\/\/redir.stf.jus.br\/paginadorpub\/paginador.jsp?docTP=AC&amp;docID=363282\">ADI 3022<\/a><\/u>\u00a0was that the measure was unconstitutional and this issue is being seen again with the law that has been approved in S\u00e3o Paulo. It is worth noting that civil police officers do not fall into the category of \u2018extreme financial hardship\u2019 that was established, in the state of Sao Paulo, for people who earn less than three times the minimum salary a month.\r\n\r\nThe organisations believe that transforming legal assistance for those in need into full legal assistance for civil police, makes the Public Defender\u2019s Office into a kind of lawyer for civil servants.\r\n\r\n\u201cThis distinction is against the principle of civil rights, given that anyone in the state of S\u00e3o Paulo who requires full legal assistance from this institution is subject to the criteria that define financial hardship, whilst civil police officers will receive this privilege automatically on the grounds that they work for the state and have a public role. This is detrimental to the rest of the population and to the public coffers.\u201d Argue the organisations in the document.\r\n\r\nThe letter is signed by Conectas Human Rights and the <em>Rede de Prote\u00e7\u00e3o e Resist\u00eancia contra o Genoc\u00eddio<\/em> (Network for Protection and Resistance against Genocide).","post_title":"State of S\u00e3o Paulo passes law diverting purpose of Public Defender\u2019s Office","post_excerpt":"State Civil Police Officers are to receive legal assistance from the Public Defender\u2019s Office, contrary to the Constitution","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"state-sao-paulo-passes-law-diverting-purpose-public-defenders-office","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-04-06 15:06:54","post_modified_gmt":"2021-04-06 15:06:54","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&#038;p=13226","menu_order":2554,"post_type":"noticia","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}}},"yoast":{"focuskw":"ADI 6852","title":"","metadesc":"Organizations consider it unconstitutional to restrict this prerogative of public defenders","linkdex":"54","metakeywords":"","meta-robots-noindex":"","meta-robots-nofollow":"","meta-robots-adv":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","opengraph-title":"","opengraph-description":"","opengraph-image":"","twitter-title":"","twitter-description":"","twitter-image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litigiopt\/35167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litigiopt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/litigiopt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"temaltigio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/temaltigio?post=35167"},{"taxonomy":"categoria_litigio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categoria_litigio?post=35167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}