On 4 August, a magistrate in Brazil’s supreme court (STF), Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha, gave the justice ministry 48 hours to explain the supposed existence of a file containing information on public security officials who are politically opposed to the government.
Analysis:
The existence of such a file was revealed in a report by news site UOL, published on 24 July. According to UOL’s report, the Secretaria de Operações Integradas (Seopi) in the federal justice & public security ministry has compiled information on almost 600 officials in the federal and state police forces who are identified as members of the anti-fascist movement (which opposes President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters’ anti-democratic demands). Justice Minister André Mendonça has for the moment evaded giving clarifications about the Seopi’s work and this alleged file, prompting the STF to intervene amid concerns that the information gathered could be used for political persecution.
- According to UOL, throughout the month of June the Seopi gathered information (including names and in some cases addresses and photographs) on 579 security officers, as well as three academics from state-run universities. This followed a 5 June manifesto entitled ‘Antifascist police officers in defence of popular democracy’, signed by 503 active and retired officers from different federal and state police forces. The file was then shared internally between a number of government security and intelligence bodies.
- Antunes Rocha’s order responds to a petition filed by the opposition Rede Sustentabilidade party for the justice ministry’s actions to be investigated, and the collection of data to be suspended. If the government has indeed been collecting such information on public servants, the situation “opens the door to behaviour which is incompatible with the most basic democratic principles of the rule of law” , the judge outlined in her decision, adding that more information on the Seopi, a little-known government secretariat, is needed.
Looking Ahead: Mendonça cancelled an appearance before congress planned for yesterday, but is now due to appear remotely before the joint congressional committee of control over the intelligence services’ activities on 7 August, to give explanations on this file and the Seopi’s work.