Parliamentarian Pays for Reporting Witzel to UN with Annulment Call

By Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Congressmen from the Partido Social Cristão (PSC), acronym under which Governor Wilson Witzel was elected, have filed a request for annulment of the mandate of state representative Renata Souza (PSOL) in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj), on Thursday, ninth.

The party claims that the deputy broke parliamentary propriety by using the Human Rights Commission to conduct “a personal demonstration camouflaged as an institutional one” against the governor.

“Evidently, this was not an institutional attack operated by the Commission [for the Defense of Human Rights and Citizenship], but rather an individual, calculated and opportunistic move by Representative Renata Souza,” reads the text signed by government leaders Márcio Pacheco and the Alerj party, Bruno Dauaire, in addition to Deputy Sérgio Louback, all from the PSC.

In the request, the trio requests that the Board of Directors of the House heed the representation and notify Renata Souza.

They also ask for the production of “all admissible means of proof”, and they also want the testimony of the vice-president of the Commission, Deputy Márcio Gualberto (PSL).

According to him, the denunciation to international organizations was not approved by other members in the Commission on Human Rights.

An Attempt at Silencing and Intimidation

To Brazilian Media outlet G1, the deputy said on Friday night (10th) that she considered necessary “to preserve the Legislative Power’s autonomy in relation to the government”. Also, she stated that the request for annulment constitutes a “dangerous precedent” and is an “attempt at silencing and intimidation”.

“The fact that this is happening to me today sets a dangerous precedent since any other Member who questions public health or education policy, for instance, may also be prosecuted by the governor,” said Renata Souza.

She adds: “Supervising the executive is our job as parliamentarians, we have been elected to do so. This annulment threat is an attempt to silence and intimidate me while defending the right to life.”

Renata Souza, who chairs the Alerj Human Rights Commission, reported Witzel, on Tuesday (seventh), to the United Nations (UN) and, before that, to the Organization of American States OAS.

The document sent to the two international organizations reports shots fired by a policeman from the helicopter on which the governor posted a video, last Saturday (fourth), in Angra dos Reis, Costa Verde.

The denunciation emphasizes that the governor is personally leading a “massacre policy”.

In a statement released at the time, Witzel said that he had not received any notification from the UN and that the operation in Angra – which had taken place on Saturday (fourth) – consisted in identifying areas afflicted by criminality. The governor also claimed that there were no victims.

According to O Globo newspaper, during an event on Friday morning to commemorate the 211th anniversary of the Civil Police, Governor Wilson Witzel launched an attack claiming that Congresswoman Renata Souza had to be removed.

In his opinion, the parliamentarian should lose her mandate because, according to Witzel, she has misused her duties as president of the Commission on Human Rights by submitting the report to the UN without deliberation from all members of the group.