Appointment of Aras is “Democratic Regression”, Says Federal Prosecutors Association

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The ANPR (National Association of Federal Prosecutors) released a note this Thursday (5th) classifying the appointment of subcurator General Augusto Aras to the command of the PGR (Federal Prosecutor General) as the “greatest democratic and institutional setback” of the Federal Public Ministry.

President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) appointed Aras, ignoring the triple list formed by the three names most voted in internal elections of the category. Aras did not participate in the election. Since 2003, under the first Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration, all presidents have followed the list.

“The nominee [Aras] was not submitted to public debate, did not present proposals in the eyes of society and his own career. We don’t know what he talked about in totally private dialogues, developed at the margins of public opinion,” said the association of prosecutors.

“Furthermore, he does not have the leadership to command an institution with the weight and importance of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF). His appointment is, as expressed by the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, a personal choice, arising from a position of affinity of opinions.”

The appointment of Aras, which has yet to be approved by the Senate, has the potential to generate an uprising among members of the Federal Public Prosecutors, who enjoy functional autonomy. Most of them see the triple list as a way to help ensure the independence of the PGR from the Executive Branch.

“The president himself portrayed the office of PGR as the ‘queen’ on a chessboard, the president being the king. On other occasions, he expressed that the head of the MPF had to be somebody in accord with him. The statements reveal an absolutely mistaken understanding of the nature of institutions in a democratic state under the rule of law. The MPF is independent,” the ANPR said in the note.

“The choice announced today also disregards the principle of transparency, as the candidates on the triple list travelled the country, publicly debating with their peers, the press and society, their projects, their ideas, what they think about the main difficulties and challenges of our institutional life,” the text continues.

The entity (ANPR) says there is an “absolute opposition of the class with this indication” and calls the prosecutors for a “National Day of Mobilization and Protest” next Monday (9th).

“The ANPR asks, from now on, that all members of the MPF remain in a permanent state of vigilance and attention in defending the principles of institutional autonomy, functional independence and the choice of their functions in compliance with the democratic principle.”

Aras launched himself as a candidate for the PGR out of the triple list in April. In his first interview on the subject, given to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that month, the candidate said that the internal election “draws into the Federal Public Prosecutors Office the natural vices of party politics, such as clientelism, cronyism, the politics of mutual backscratching”.

After him, several district attorneys joined the race outside the list and started to visit Bolsonaro at the Planalto Palace, among them Antonio Carlos Simões Soares, Paulo Gonet,
Marcelo Rebello and Bonifácio de Andrada.

The top three voters on this year’s triple list were Mario Bonsaglia, Luiza Frischeisen and Blal Dalloul.