Lula signs anti-faction project with tougher penalties for criminal organizations

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed, this Friday (31), the Anti-Faction bill to be sent to the National Congress today on an urgent basis.

The government’s Communication Secretariat confirmed the information this afternoon to the press, with only “small editorial adjustments” to the text that was prepared by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.

The proposal is taken to the Legislature after the results of Operation Containment, which left 121 dead in Rio de Janeiro.

As informed by the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, the proposal includes increasing penalties for leaders and members of criminal organizations.

Those convicted of the crime of “qualified criminal organization”, which would become a new criminal type, could receive a sentence of 30 years in prison.

The text also provides for the creation of a national database to have a kind of catalog of information on these factions with the purpose of gathering strategic information for investigating and tracking these groups.

Another point is to take actions to reduce factions’ financial resources more quickly.

An example would be the seizure of assets, rights or valuables of the person being investigated, including during the course of the investigation or when there is suspicion that they are products or instruments of committing crimes.

Infiltration

Another action envisaged by the proposal is the infiltration of police officers and collaborators into the criminal organization during the investigation and even the possibility of creating fictitious legal entities to facilitate infiltration into the criminal organization.

The bill also presents another possibility, during the investigation, by authorizing the monitoring of meetings held between pre-trial detainees or convicted members of criminal organizations.

Prison sentences

The proposal defends the need to increase the sentence for simple criminal organizations, from 3 to 8 years in prison to 5 to 10 years. An even greater increase (from two-thirds to double) of sentences would occur in cases of the criminal type characterized as “qualified criminal organization”.

Examples of this characteristic include cases in which it is proven that a child or teenager has been enticed into committing a crime, or even when the action is carried out by a public official. Another “qualification” of organized crime can be understood in cases where the criminal organization exercises territorial or prison control.

The use of a restricted or prohibited firearm and when there is death or bodily injury to a public security agent are also situations where the penalty is aggravated. According to the project, the crime classified as a qualified criminal organization is now considered heinous, that is, non-bailable.

Territorial domain

Territorial domination by organized crime occurs, as the Minister of Justice exemplifies, in communities dominated by factions, which leaves residents vulnerable.

Database

Regarding the database, the intention is to have as much detail as possible, including the DNA of people involved in organized crime.