Politics

Understanding Brazil’s National Security Law

Feds used National Security Law to indict Adelio Oliveira. Photo: Tania Rego/ABr
Feds used National Security Law to indict Adelio Oliveira. Photo: Guilherme Leite/Folhapress

Moments after stabbing far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro in the abdomen, Adelio Bispo de Oliveira, 40, was arrested by the police. He confessed to the crime and was transferred to a federal prison in Campo Grande, in the center-west state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Then, he was indicted for a “personal assault driven by political non-conformity” under Brazil’s National Security Law, for which he could receive up to 10 years in prison (the sentence could double if it results in “severe body lesions” – which was the case).

The National Security Law was passed in 1983, in the waning moments of the military dictatorship. The law revolves around crimes against the “political and social order,” giving the Federal Police the jurisdiction to investigate such crimes. It is a revamped version of a law created in 1935, under President Getulio Vargas, and amended over the years by authoritarian regimes.

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