Public Note #23 – On the confidential dossiers made by the government

The Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for the Defense of Human Rights – the Arns Commission – expresses its concern about and reiterates its repudiation of the confidential dossiers made by public authorities against Brazilian citizens. A quick and complete elucidation regarding such practices is essential in order to avoid the resurgence of State espionage in our institutions and in our lives.

Since the denouncement, through the press, of the existence of a list containing 579 names of anti-fascist police officers and three scholars dangerously considered as “opinion leaders/opinion makers” – a list made confidentially at the request of the current Minister of Justice, André Mendonça – we have seen the succession of government maneuvers so that the truth does not come out.

Such maneuvers begin with the weak explanations provided by the Justice holder to Justice Cármen Lúcia of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), rapporteur of the Claim of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept (Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental – ADPF, in Portuguese) No. 722, which was filed by the Rede Sustentabilidade party and is going to be judged in the coming days in a plenary session. For the Arns Commission, the superficiality with which the government representative dealt with the request for information that was diligently made by the rapporteur judge constitutes an affront to the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

You then add this to the bureaucratic clarifications, also provided by the rapporteur judge in a parliamentary commission a few days ago – in fact, a handful of evasive statements – that in no way elucidate the modus operandi of the so-called Secretariat for Integrated Operations of the Ministry of Justice (Secretaria de Operações Integradas do Ministério da Justiça – Seopi, in Portuguese), nor its intention when producing such dossiers, in the guise of providing information services.

After two weeks of inconsistent explanations, the existence of another list comes to light, with names of alleged enemies of the Bolsonaro government, labeled “anti-fascists” and “terrorists”. This list would likely have been delivered by deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro to the US Embassy in Brazil – if this fact is confirmed, in addition to being absurd, the gesture constitutes a very serious attack on national sovereignty.

Regrettably, while evasive official statements continue to conceal the real interests of these dossiers, hundreds of Brazilians continue to have their privacy exposed, their dignity attacked, and even their physical integrity threatened by the fact that their names appear on these abominable lists, whose circulation, in fact, we do not know much about.

It should be noted that Professor Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, founding president and member of the Arns Commission, who is one of the people mentioned in the Seopi dossier, has been taking the appropriate legal measures. It is heartbreaking to see the disrespect with which the current government treats this former Secretary of State for Human Rights, former coordinator of the National Truth Commission, a former member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and current Chairman of the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry for Syria.

The Arns Commission has also decided to deliver memorials in Claim of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept (Arguição de Descumprimento de Preceito Fundamental – ADPF, in Portuguese) No. 722, expressing to the Supreme Court its indignation at the serious violations of fundamental rights, which are fully characterized by the production of these lists of people.

We insist that it is necessary to clarify, once and for all, the inspiration and raison d'être of such dossiers within the framework of Justice and the Democratic Rule of Law, in the light of the Constitution. The return of State surveillance of citizens cannot be tolerated, since it opens the way to arbitrary practices. Therefore, we call on the justices of the Supreme Court and the members of Parliament to exercise their mandate: to prevent this indignity from surviving.