PGR speaks out against the release of Filipe Martins, arrested for coup plot

The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) spoke out this Saturday, 24th, against the release of Filipe Martins, former special advisor to the Presidency for International Affairs during the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). According to the Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, there are no “new facts” that change the fact that Martins failed to comply with precautionary measures when accessing the social network LinkedIn. Gonet also said that the former advisor shows “disdain for judicial determinations”

“In the present case, the defendant’s stance demonstrates disdain for judicial determinations and the ineffectiveness of less serious alternative measures, leaving precautionary segregation as a suitable means to ensure the application of criminal law and the discipline of the process. Therefore, given the permanence of the reasons that supported the decree of preventive detention and the lack of new facts that alter the factual and evidentiary framework that supported the measure, there is no need to consider its revocation or relaxation”, said Gonet in the decision.

In a note sent to Broadcast Político, Grupo Estado’s real-time news system, Martins’ lawyer, Ricardo Scheiffer, stated that he presented reports of the former advisor’s access on LinkedIn, which would show that he did not use the platform.

“It is perplexing that a mere unverifiable screenshot without any chain of custody is considered sufficient to support preventive detention, while official documents presented by the defense are summarily disqualified without conclusive expertise. They are transforming a precautionary measure into an anticipation of sentence”, declared the defense lawyer, Ricardo Scheiffer.

Filipe Martins was provisionally arrested on January 2nd, while serving home confinement after being sentenced to 21 years in prison for participating in the attempted coup d’état after the 2022 elections.

Prohibited from accessing social networks, directly or indirectly, including through third parties, the Federal Police (PF) pointed out that he used LinkedIn and circumvented the regulations.

On the 22nd, the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes gave 15 days for the PGR to take a position on the release request presented by the defense. With the PGR’s opinion sent this Saturday, Moraes must decide whether or not he will follow Gonet’s position.

Martins was a defendant in the so-called “core 2” of the coup plot. According to the records judged by the First Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the members of this group were accused of offering legal, operational and intelligence support in the plan for democratic rupture, including the preparation of the so-called “coup draft”. According to the accusation, the former advisor would have prepared one of the versions of the draft, which is denied by his defense.