Young people incriminated for 'crimes that were to be committed' will have a new hearing on the 10th.

Current Brazil Network - Through social media, lawyer Ana Lucia Marchiori is asking for public support to put pressure on Governor Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB), the São Paulo Court of Justice, the Military Police Ombudsman, and even the Attorney General of the Republic, Raquel Dodge, in favor of the 18 young people who are being prosecuted for "crimes that could be committed in the future."

The young men, who will have a new hearing next Friday the 10th, were incriminated after falling into an ambush set up by then-Army Captain William Pina Botelho, through a social network. The military man used the false name Balta Nunes to approach the young men.

On September 4th of last year, 22 students were arrested at the São Paulo Cultural Center, supposedly to participate in a "Temer Out" protest. One of them, however, was not going to the demonstration.

In an operation without a warrant, led by the then-captain, now a major, they were surprised by ten police cars, a bus, and even a helicopter. The police and the army deny that the operation was pre-planned.

According to a video posted on the lawyer's personal Facebook page, the action is a remnant of the apparatus orchestrated for the World Cup and the Olympics, which includes anti-terrorism laws, a greater military presence in urban areas, and data collection from apps that constitute a tool for political repression rather than public security.

In fact, in the incident at the São Paulo Cultural Center, the young people were taken to the State Department of Criminal Investigations (Deic), an agency specializing in organized crime, and not to a regular police station, as would have been the case.

According to the lawyer's message, there is evidence that items were planted among the young people's belongings, including an iron bar, attributed to a student who wasn't even carrying a backpack. Released by the court the following day, they were charged again in December by the Public Prosecutor's Office with corruption of minors and criminal association.

The investigation into the then-undercover captain was shelved by the military justice system, he ended up being promoted, and the students were prosecuted. "Democracy presupposes freedom of assembly and a justice system that is not rigged to maintain the status quo. Imprisonment for crimes that were not committed, claiming they would be committed in the future, is absurd; the government wants to give a sample of what can happen to those who protest against it," says the message in the video.