Moraes determines arrest of Marcelo Câmara, defendant in the STF by coup d’état

Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), determined on Wednesday (18) the pre-trial detention of the reserve colonel Marcelo Câmara, former special advisor of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The measure was taken after evidence of attempted obstruction of the 2022 coup plot investigations.

Câmara was already a defendant in the so -called “core two” of the investigation and complied with precautionary measures, such as the prohibition of use of social networks and contact with other investigated. According to Moraes, he violated these restrictions and demonstrated “complete contempt for the judiciary”, representing a risk to public order.

Attempted to obtain data from Mauro Cid’s denunciation

Moraes’s decision is based on an attempt by the colonel and his lawyer, Eduardo Kuntz, to access confidential information from the award-winning collaboration agreement signed by Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, former Bolsonaro orders. According to the investigation, Câmara and Kuntz directly sought CID to obtain details of the content of the denunciation, which also motivated the opening of a new survey against both.

Moraes states that conversations between Kuntz and Cid occurred through Instagram, including messages exchanged with an account that would belong to Cid’s wife. The dialogue would have occurred in March 2024 and lasted several hours. Cid even sent a “unique view photo” to confirm his identity, according to the document.

Obstruction of justice and violation of the rules of the denunciation

Contact between the lawyer and the whistleblower, according to Moraes, reveals attempted violation of the terms of award -winning collaboration, as well as characterizing a possible crime of obstruction of justice.

In his decision, the minister wrote that “reported conduct indicates that the defendant and his prosecutor tried to obtain confidential data regarding the award -winning collaboration agreement, through conversations made by Instagram and personal contacts in the Equestrian Society of Brasilia.”

In addition to the prison of the House, the minister determined that he, Mauro Cid and the lawyer to be heard by the Federal Police within 15 days.

Defense arguments

Marcelo Câmara’s defense argued that the initiative to contact Mauro Cid aimed to verify the legality of the denunciation agreement, pointing out that the principle of voluntarity would have been “scratched”.

According to Kuntz, Cid criticized the collaboration process and indicated that he would not have reported spontaneously – an argument also used by Jair Bolsonaro’s defense to try to nullify the agreement.

Moraes, however, considered the facts “very serious”, noting that the lawyer’s actions exceeded the legal obligations of the function and violated judicial measures imposed on his client.