The president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), minister Luís Roberto Barroso, said this Monday (16) that the Judiciary needs to treat environmental crimes “with the seriousness” that these crimes have.
“These are crimes that have become very serious,” he stated, drawing the attention of police authorities and judges. The judge also said that he received a call from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) “concerned” about impunity for intentional burning.
“The President of the Republic himself, who called me concerned, with the circumstance of impunity in relation to these intentional fires, while from here I ask, first, the judiciary and the judges to treat this crime with the seriousness that it deserves to be treated ”, said Barroso.
The statement was made at the opening of the second meeting of the Observatory of the Environment and Climate Change of the Judiciary, at the National Council of Justice (CNJ). The CNJ is chaired by the president of the STF.
In an interview with journalists outside the event, Barroso said that Lula was concerned about situations in which the Federal Police acted and the fear that Justice would not have the necessary speed and rigor. “And that’s why I appealed to the Judiciary across the country to treat this crime with the seriousness it deserves,” he said.
Emergency situation
According to Barroso, in addition to being serious, environmental crimes are violations of human rights and “result in dramatic consequences, including violating the right to life, the right to integrity, the right to property”.
“We are facing a new problem, which is environmental crimes and some that are already traditionally recognized, although not yet sufficiently addressed, illegal mining, illegal logging, deforestation, land grabbing. And now we have this situation of fires that also needs to be faced with seriousness”, declared the magistrate to journalists, at the CNJ.
For the president of the STF and CNJ, the country is experiencing an “emergency situation” with the biggest drought in history.
“Even the plans that the Supreme Court ordered the government to draw up, in the set of actions it recently judged, are still within the deadline, they are being presented. In fact, the intensity of the drought, in a way, surprised everyone and we are all concerned about coping to the extent of each person’s competence,” he stated.
During the event, Barroso also said that an awareness campaign is needed so that the population stops using fire during the dry season.
“There is the deliberate criminal action, which is to set fire to the forest, and there is the cultural action of burning garbage, which has also served to spread these fires that are devastating the country. So there was a need for a campaign to raise awareness among the population, not to use fire under any circumstances, especially during the dry season,” he said.
The judge announced that he will summon all courts in the country to present environmental plans to save energy and replace them with solar plants.
The minister said that he obtained financing for projects of this type from the New Development Bank, known as the “BRICS bank”, chaired by former president Dilma Rousseff (PT).
