'Coronavirus is not a free pass,' says minister, keeping Cabral in jail.

247 - The Minister of the Superior Court of Justice, Rogério Schietti Cruz, stated that the coronavirus "is not a free pass," while keeping former governor Sérgio Cabral (MDB) in prison. His defense argued that he should be released because of the pandemic. The former governor's sentences already total 282 years in prison. He signed a plea bargain agreement with the Federal Police, approved by Supreme Court Justice Edson Fachin, but the agreement does not reduce his prison term. 

The minister highlighted the seriousness of the crimes committed by Cabral. "The coronavirus crisis must always be taken into account when analyzing requests for the release of prisoners, but, inevitably, it is not a free pass for the release of everyone, as the right of the community to see social peace preserved still persists, which is inseparable from the idea that the criminal justice system must be effective, so as not to leave the community unprotected against the most serious attacks on legally protected assets under criminal law," he wrote. The content of the decision was published in... Fausto Macedo's blog. 

According to Schietti, Cabral is "endowed with marked dangerousness and cannot be equated to an ordinary prisoner." "He is in a recently renovated facility that houses inmates of a higher level. His condition is very different from that experienced by thousands of inmates in inhumane situations. The former governor is monitored by the authorities, by professionals who assist him and, as the defense emphasizes, by the media," he said.