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Brazil Police superintendent says he does not want to restrict Lula’s rights … but recalls confusion during Lula’s arrest
UOL BRAZIL – The superintendent of the Federal Police in Paraná, delegate Luciano Flores de Lima, said on Thursday last that security issues and difficulties involving the arrest process of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT), in April of last year, were weighed in the rejection of Lula’s request to attend the funeral of his brother Genival Inácio da Silva, known as Vavá, in São Bernardo do Campo (SP).
Lula is being held at the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba. He surrendered to serve his sentence in the triple trial more than a day after the deadline stipulated by the Justice. At the time, the former president was in the Metalworkers’ Union of ABC, in São Bernardo, before deciding to surrender. Militants and supporters tried to stop Lula from leaving.
The superintendent recalls that he needed help from the Military Police of São Paulo in the process of Lula’s arrest.
“You have seen the difficulty of taking someone out of a place surrounded by a crowd that for an ideological reason does not want a judicial measure to be carried out,” he said on Thursday.
Lima says that since the request for Lula’s defence to attend the funeral, Federal Police studied the logistics to take the former president to the city of Greater São Paulo. He said that the Federal Police had to analyze the risks of transporting the former president to the funeral, which was held on Wednesday last. The president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Minister Dias Toffoli, authorized Lula’s arrival fifteen minutes before the scheduled time for burial, which was held without Lula’s presence. The former president decided not to go to São Paulo after the decision of Toffoli.
The superintendent said that when a mission is given to the Federal Police, it is necessary to see responsibility to fulfill it. And, with the call of militants to “go to the place where a political event will be made”, a crowd was expected, difficulties were foreseen to ensure the safety of all, not only in the cemetery, but throughout the displacement.
“We are not here against anyone, we just don’t want to harm the image of any person or the right of any person. On the contrary, the Judiciary is there to guarantee rights,” commented the superintendent.
“The Federal Police are to guarantee the rights and not to repeal them.”
Superintendent of the Federal Police in Paraná, delegate Luciano Flores de Lima
For the superintendent, it seems obvious, in this case, “the difficulty and responsibility of the state as a whole to guarantee the right of someone who is jailed to go to the funeral or burial of a relative.”
“Just because it can be done does not mean it should be done. Every case should be analyzed,” he said, recalling the justification given by the Justice to also deny the requests. The decision of the Federal Court, in the first and second instances, and the Federal Police against Lula’s visit to the funeral was criticized by supporters of the former president. The superintendent, however, said he did not understand the “controversy” surrounding the issue.
“It did not depend on anyone’s goodwill. There were no logistic conditions,” he said. Lima said he did not know of cases of prisoners who had been allowed to attend relatives’ oaths in other states, “used an airplane and millions in public spending to take him to another state where there was militancy.”
“I do not know in Brazilian history that this happened,” he said. Curitiba is about 450 kilometres away from São Bernardo. The superintendent also rejected the possibility of using a private aircraft to transport the former president.
“Imagine if we used a private aircraft, borrowed by someone who’s not guaranteed to be working in the state’s best interests, driven by a pilot whose intentions are not guaranteed to be in the state’s best interests to fly a former president of the Republic. Who guarantees that it will go to the destination that it should go?” he asked.
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