Julian CortesFormer international affairs advisor to the President of Brazil, Filipe Martins, completes four months of imprisonment this Saturday (8th). Since February 8, when the Federal Police executed the arrest order issued by Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes, former President Jair Bolsonaro has remained silent on Martins’ case, who held one of the most trusted positions in his administration.
Martins faces serious due process violations and is considered a classic example of political imprisonment. He has been detained without formal charges, despite a favorable opinion from the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) for his release. The accusation is based on a trip that never occurred.
Since 2022, Bolsonaro has mentioned the Supreme Federal Court and its judges’ decisions less frequently in his speeches and social media, although he occasionally criticizes the court. For example, on May 26, he called the Superior Electoral Court’s (TSE) decision to reject his appeal against ineligibility a “never-ending persecution.” Last Friday, he posted an article about the detainees from January 8.
Comments from Allies
Unlike his father, Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro has recently commented on the issue. “An innocent man is being required to prove he did not travel to the United States, whereas in a democracy, it is up to the accuser to prove their accusations beyond any doubt,” he said, referring to the nonexistent trip that led to the arrest of his father’s former advisor.
Fabio Wajngarten, a former advisor to the president and former head of the Presidential Communications Office (Secom), also commented on the case. “There is no reason for Filipe’s imprisonment. It is expected that Brazilian laws are clear and fair enough for him to be released as soon as possible,” he said. Wajngarten was asked by Truths Report about Bolsonaro’s silence regarding Martins but had not responded by the time this article was published.
Silence and Discomfort
Bolsonaro’s silence regarding the plight of close allies has caused discomfort among some supporters, such as his reluctance in 2021 to comment on the arrests of former deputies Daniel Silveira and Roberto Jefferson.
Filipe Martins’ Case
Filipe Martins’ case is fraught with illegalities and lack of transparency from the start. On February 8, 2024, the Federal Police preemptively arrested Martins during Operation Tempus Veritatis, which investigated his alleged connection to the January 8, 2023, events and a supposed coup attempt. Martins was detained at his girlfriend’s house in Ponta Grossa (PR) and taken to the Federal Police Superintendency in Curitiba.
The PF justified his arrest by noting his name appeared on the passenger list of a presidential flight with Bolsonaro on December 30, 2022, to Orlando, USA, indicating a flight risk. However, there are no formal records of this departure.
The day after the operation, Martins‘ defense requested the revocation of the preemptive detention, citing a lack of evidence. Five days later, Moraes denied the request. The defense made another request on February 19, presenting documents proving his presence in Brazil, such as airline tickets from Brasília to Curitiba for him and his wife, dated December 31, 2022, baggage claim tickets, airline confirmations, and photos of the couple in Ponta Grossa (PR).
Moraes ignored this evidence and, on February 22, ordered Martins’ transfer to the Penal Medical Complex (CMP) in Pinhais, Paraná. Lawyers and family members were not informed about the transfer before it happened. “How do they transfer a suspect with no proof of crime and no flagrant act to a place for convicted criminals, without even informing the defense so they can know where their client is?” questioned Martins’ lawyer, Ricardo Scheiffer, at the time.
Possible Psychological Torture
One hypothesis raised by Martins’ circle is that he is being subjected to psychological torture: the judiciary is keeping him in precarious conditions to force a confession. In a deposition before being taken to CMP, Martins denied participating in meetings allegedly about the coup attempt and the drafting of a document proposing to arrest authorities. He also clearly stated that he did not travel on the plane that took Bolsonaro to the United States at the end of December 2022.
On February 29, 2024, Martins’ defense presented new documents proving his stay in Brazil during the period he allegedly left the country. On March 1, 2024, jurists stated that Martins’ preventive detention was clearly illegal, emphasizing that the justifications used for preventive detention must be thoroughly proven.
On March 6, 2024, the PGR issued an opinion favoring Martins’ provisional release, recognizing that there were no signs of flight risk and that the initial decision for detention could already be reconsidered. “The request to relax custody seems to gather sufficient practical and legal reasons,” said the PGR.
Decisions and Waiting
On March 28, three weeks after the PGR’s opinion, in a decision that kept Martins in detention, Moraes cited doubts about the former advisor’s itinerary. With this, the judge admitted that the main reason for ordering preventive detention was doubtful—making the detention illegal in itself. Even so, Martins remained imprisoned.
In early April, as he was nearing two months in detention, Bolsonaro’s former advisor wrote a letter to a friend, leaked to the press, saying: “I have not betrayed. I will not betray. Because there is nothing to betray.”
In May, Moraes rejected another request for Martins’ release, citing pending Federal Police investigations. The defense reiterated that the judge simply ignores the evidence presented. “We have already submitted all the evidence, including presenting three times the response we received from the Institutional Security Office (GSI) of the Lula government through the Access to Information Law with the list of passengers who boarded for Orlando,” said Scheiffer. “But Moraes does not comment on this list, he simply ignores it.”
On May 20, 2024, Martins’ defense released a public statement accusing Moraes of committing illegalities and coercing Martins to produce evidence against himself. The defense filed an appeal with the STF against the decision to maintain detention, arguing that the measure is unjust and abusive, and pointing out various illegalities in the process.
At the end of May, Moraes finally called on the Ministry of Justice and Public Security to request information from the U.S. government about Martins’ entries and exits, which could definitively confirm that the former presidential advisor did not make the December 30, 2022, trip. However, this request came almost two months after the PGR recommended it.
On April 1, Moraes had sent this request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is procedurally incorrect, as the international cooperation process requires the request to go through the Ministry of Justice. Moraes took almost two months to correct the mistake: he only made the request to the correct agency on May 28. Now, the judge awaits the U.S. government’s response, which should definitively confirm the nonexistent trip for which Martins has been imprisoned for four months.
Cell Phone Data Confirms Filipe Martins Did Not Make the Trip That Led to His Imprisonment
Geolocation data shows that Filipe Martins’ cell phone was in Brasília on December 30, 2022, the date of the former president’s trip to the United States. The cell phone signals were picked up in Curitiba the next day and later in Ponta Grossa (PR).
The phone company Tim sent the report with Martins’ cell phone signal records to STF Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
Martins has been imprisoned since February 8 this year by order of Moraes, for 153 days, despite consistent evidence that he did not make the trip that led to his imprisonment. The defense has presented multiple proofs that the former advisor was not on the presidential plane that took Bolsonaro to the United States at the end of 2022, but Moraes continues to uphold the preventive detention. As already reported by Truths Report, even if the presence of the former advisor on the trip were proven, his preventive detention would still be illegal.