house arrest

Could Bolsonaro go to jail this week?

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Original article by Brasil de Fato republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Jair Bolsonaro in front of flag

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Photo: Huete

He is already under house arrest, but if convicted, he would be taken to a cell only after the sentence becomes final.

The answer to the question is yes. In fact, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is already under house arrest after failing to comply with precautionary measures imposed by the reporting judge in the criminal case investigating the attempted coup in Brazil, Alexandre de Moraes, such as the prohibition on using social media.

Lawyer Ney Strozake states that preventive detention could be imposed if there is a risk of flight. “If he [Bolsonaro] flees or takes actions that clearly demonstrate that he is going to flee, what could happen is that the Attorney General’s Office could request preventive detention and Alexandre Moraes could order preventive detention. But [only] because he is preparing to flee or because he has fled, which is the case with [Carla] Zambelli. She is already abroad and has announced that she has fled. Then her preventive detention was ordered. In Bolsonaro’s case, this could also happen,” explained the lawyer.

However, these are preventive measures, which are primarily aimed at ensuring the smooth running of the proceedings and are unlikely to be taken on the eve of a sentence. The final arrest, in compliance with a possible sentence established by the First Panel of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), will still take a little more time, and this depends on how the five ministers will vote.

Possibilities for appeals

If there are at least two disagreements among the justices regarding the merits of the case, that is, regarding the conviction or acquittal of the defendants, the defense may file appeals to bring the case to the full court, known as infringements. The deadline for the defense to file these appeals is ten days, and there is no deadline for the court to decide whether to accept them.

If there is not this minimum number of disagreements on the merits, the defense will be limited to only one possibility of appeal: the so-called motions for clarification. In this case, there is no possibility of changing the majority decision, but lawyers may contest or even request clarification regarding any measure imposed in the sentence, or request, for example, immediate progression to house arrest for health reasons. For this type of appeal, the deadline for filing defenses is five days after the sentence, and the judge in the case has the same amount of time to rule on them.

Jail only after the final judgment

According to the understanding established by the STF, those convicted will only begin serving their sentences after the so-called final judgment, that is, when there are no more possibilities for appeals.

Former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven other defendants are identified by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) as the “crucial nucleus” of the coup plot. They are accused of the crimes of armed criminal organization, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d’état, damage qualified by violence and serious threat, and deterioration of listed heritage.

Together, the penalties related to the crimes identified by the Attorney General’s Office could total 43 years in prison, considering the maximum penalties for each crime and the possibility of aggravating circumstances.

In addition to the former president, seven other men, all close allies during his administration, are being tried this week. They are: Alexandre Ramagem (former head of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, Abin, and now a federal deputy for the Liberal Party in Rio de Janeiro); Almir Garnier Santos (former Navy commander); Anderson Torres (former Minister of Justice); Augusto Heleno (Army general and former Minister of Institutional Security); Mauro Cid (Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp); Paulo Sérgio Nogueira (who, like Braga Netto, was also Minister of Defense); and Walter Braga Netto (Army general and former Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff).

Among the eight defendants, Ramagem is the only one charged with three crimes, rather than five, as the charges of aggravated damage and deterioration of listed property (relating to January 8) were suspended, since he was already a certified congressman at the time and therefore had parliamentary immunity.

With the exception of whistleblower Mauro Cid, who has confessed to the charges, the others claim innocence.

This article was first published in Brasil de Fato in Portuguese.

Original article by Brasil de Fato republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

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Israel kept over 600 Palestinians children under house arrest in 2022

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Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

The data published by the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs does not include all the children arrested by Israeli occupation forces this year, which, according to some sources, is above 750December 27, 2022 by Peoples Dispatch

More than 600 Palestinian children were kept under house arrest by Israeli occupation forces in 2022, according to the Commission for Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, a prisoners’ rights body, which issued a statement on Monday, December 26. Minors were detained by the Israeli state for periods ranging between a few days and, in some cases, years, Wafa news agency reported. 

The detained children are not allowed to move freely, or even go to school without an escort. They are also forced to wear tracking devices throughout the detention period. 

The commission describes two kinds of detention of Palestinian children. One is in which the child stays with their family while an Israeli court decides on the case. This often takes months, and the family is often forced to pay a heavy amount as surety. To access such large sums of money, families often have to take loans or sell their property. In the second category, Israeli forces make Palestinian families take their children outside the city or town during the period of the trial, and arrange for their own stay there while the court decides the matter.  

The commission notes that such Israeli detention leaves prolonged physiological effects on both the children and their families. It deprives the children of their right to education and creates a constant feeling of fear, anxiety, and deprivation. 

Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children violates the provisions of international humanitarian law, which specifically addresses protecting the interests of children while setting the conditions of their detention. 

Until 2009, when Military Order 1644 was promulgated by Israel in the West Bank, Israeli courts would try Palestinian children as young as 12 in the same courts as adults, and with no specific protections in place. Military Order 1644, however, set up separate military courts for the trials of children, and determined the Palestinian age of maturity to be 16. Israel does not classify Palestinians over the age of 16 as children, despite the age of maturity for Israelis being 18 years.  

Deadly year for Palestinian children 

At least 54 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the occupied territories in 2022. Out of these, 35 were killed in the occupied West Bank, and 19 in the occupied Gaza strip. At least 958 Palestinian children were wounded by Israeli forces or settlers across the occupied territories in the same period, and over 750 have been arrested or detained. 

At least 150 Palestinian children, below the age of 18, are in different Israeli prisons serving various sentences. 

Some sources quote a higher number of children killed by Israeli forces this year in the West Bank. According to Defense of Children-Palestine, one of several Palestinian human rights groups the Israeli government has branded as “terrorists” and banned, “Israeli forces repeatedly and systematically shoot to kill Palestinian children in violation of international law.” It claims that 13 Palestinian children were killed in Jenin alone this year.

The youngest Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces was 7-year-old Rayan Suleiman. He was being chased by Israeli forces, who were threatening to arrest him near Bethlehem, when he died of cardiac arrest. 

2022 was also the deadliest year for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2005, when the UN started recording daily deaths. According to the UN, more than 166 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank this year.  

Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank, has been particularly targeted by occupation forces this year under the so-called “break the wave” operations launched in March. In near daily raids, Israeli forces have killed 59 Palestinians in Jenin alone this year. 

Apart from Israeli armed forces, illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank have also killed at least four Palestinians this year, and carried out numerous attacks on Palestinian villages, their farm lands, and their businesses. 

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingIsrael kept over 600 Palestinians children under house arrest in 2022