Anti-terrorism law :: Veto upheld
Congress to decide whether damage to public or private property should remain in the bill
In a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, May 24, senators and members of the Lower House decided to uphold President Dilma Rousseff’s veto of a clause of the anti-terrorism law (13,260/2016) that includes, in the definition of the crime, damage to public or private property.
In total, the Presidency vetoed six clauses of the bill approved by the Lower House in February. In the early afternoon, the joint session of Congress approved five from the six vetoes, reconsidering the item II of article 2, paragraph one, which says it is an act of terrorism to “burn, vandalize, loot, destroy or explode means of transport or any public or private property”.
Later in the same session, however, the Congress gave a step back and decide to uphold this veto also.
Human rights organizations, among them Conectas, have called for them all to be upheld. In a statement released just hours before today’s session, the organizations repeated their criticisms of the bill and asserted that “the possibility of incorporating the vetoed provisions into Brazilian law adds an incalculable risk of criminalizing social movements and curtailing individual rights and guarantees”.
- Click here to read the public statement in full.
