Moraes grants house arrest to man convicted on January 8th who has cancer.
Retired professor Jaime Junkes, 68, was sentenced to 14 years in prison but received a probationary period due to his deteriorating health condition.
247 - Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes granted house arrest to retired professor Jaime Junkes, 68, convicted for the acts of January 8th. The decision, made this Friday, the 28th, takes into account the worsening health condition of Junkes, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer. In May 2024, he had been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his involvement in the invasion and destruction of the Presidential Palace, according to a complaint filed by the Attorney General's Office (PGR).
After the conviction, Moraes ordered Junkes's preventive detention, but the defense appealed, requesting the conversion of the sentence to house arrest. Although the minister initially allowed the convict to leave for medical treatment on March 21, he maintained the closed regime. The new decision, however, acknowledges the "serious health situation, repeatedly proven in the records," justifying the change to house arrest.
Junkes was not the only one to receive the benefit on Friday. On the same day, Débora dos Santos, arrested in March 2023, also had her sentence converted to house arrest. During the attacks on public buildings in Brasília, she spray-painted the phrase "You lost, fool" on the statue "Justice" using lipstick, becoming one of the symbols of the movement that calls for amnesty for those convicted of anti-democratic acts.
Most of those convicted are white men, from low-income backgrounds, and with a high school education.
An analysis of the cases opened in the Supreme Federal Court (STF) against those involved in the coup attempts of January 8, 2023, reveals a predominant profile among the defendants: male, white, married, low-income, and with a limited level of education. The survey, conducted by the newspaper O Globo, indicates that most of the accused have, at most, completed high school and earn up to two minimum wages per month.
The data shows that 91% of those convicted were under 59 years old at the time of the attacks. Only 1,21% were 65 years old or older, while the majority (36,88%) were in the 45-54 age range. During the trial at the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Justice Alexandre de Moraes presented these figures to refute the claim propagated by former President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies that the defendants were, for the most part, "old ladies carrying Bibles."
Another aspect identified by the study is the economic situation of the defendants. Among the prisoners, 43,2% were self-employed, 18,7% were unemployed, and only 11,6% had formal employment. Furthermore, 41% reported having received emergency aid, a benefit created during the Covid-19 pandemic under the Bolsonaro government.
The geographical origin of the accused was also analyzed. The majority come from the South and Southeast regions, with São Paulo (296 people) and Minas Gerais (170) leading the ranking. Despite being the epicenter of the acts, the Federal District appears only in seventh position, with 69 prisoners. The survey also identified that 210 defendants had party affiliation, with 90 belonging to the PL, Bolsonaro's party.
So far, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) has convicted 503 people for the coup attempts, acquitted eight, and last week indicted Bolsonaro, former minister Walter Braga Netto, and six other members of the previous government on charges of involvement in the plot that resulted in the attempted coup.