Rio deputies discuss amnesty for organized supporters

Days before the election, Rio de Janeiro’s state deputies are going to discuss a bill that provides for an amnesty for organized supporters banned from stadiums due to episodes of violence.

In addition to the amnesty, the law provides for the creation of a council to monitor compliance with rules for associations.

Currently, the main organized supporters of the four big clubs in Rio de Janeiro are prohibited from entering the stadiums by court order. All due to repeated conflicts around the arenas.

Prosecutor Rodrigo Terra, responsible for the actions, claims that the bill is unconstitutional for interfering with decisions of the Judiciary. He says, however, that its eventual approval weakens the punishment instruments provided for in the Fan Statute.

“The bill generates the feeling that punishments do not need to be carried out. This is not good at all. On the other hand, the initiative shows that the supporters, currently, are having to submit to what the Judiciary has decided and are seeking a last resort,” said the prosecutor.

The bill is authored by deputies Carlos Minc (PSB), Luiz Paulo (PSD) and Zeidan (PT), candidates for reelection. In the tribune of the Legislative Assembly, Minc stated that the objective is to prevent organized supporters from being punished for isolated acts of their members.

“Nowadays, when two fans commit a very strong aggression, the entire crowd ends up being punished. So, the idea of ​​the project is to focus the punishment on the individual and not on the legal entity. Whoever made the mistake, pays for the mistake. But don’t keep the crowd away for three, four years. Basically, nowadays you end up punishing people who had nothing to do with violence”, said the deputy.

Minc denied any electoral motivation with the project. According to him, the debate with the organized groups began in 2000 with the approval of the law that authorizes political demonstrations in stadiums and, last year, it deepened with the tribute to groups that abolished sexist and homophobic chants from their repertoires.

“In this debate, they complained a lot about the punishments. We were studying how to do it. It took a while because it is something very complex”, said the deputy.

The president of the National Association of Organized Supporters (Anatorg), Luiz Cláudio do Carmo, says that punishments are made only on the basis of police reports with little room for defense of the associations.

“The law calls for a punishment of three to five years, but fans have been banned from entering the stadium for ten years. They are successive renewals of punishments, one after the other. The first step to avoid violence is dialogue, which today has no As there is no dialogue, this leads to game days. We could avoid situations”, said Carmo, former president of Força Jovem do Vasco.

Terra says that punishments are carried out when fans are involved in conflicts. According to him, the banning of organized groups for a long period from stadiums in Rio de Janeiro is due to the repetition of violent acts.

“The fans violated an agreement signed in a TAC [Termo de Ajuste de Conduta] in 2011. The maximum punishment foreseen is three years, but they are prolonged because, if there is non-compliance, according to the law, the period starts again”, said the prosecutor.

The prosecutor also states that there is no punishment for isolated acts.

“We’ve had cases of violence with a person wearing the clothes of an organized and, later, it was seen that there was no involvement of the fans. If the fans really are not involved, there is no justification for imposing the penalty”, he said.

The bill received 30 amendments and a public hearing is scheduled for next Tuesday (19), before the final vote, which should take place on the 22nd.

“Our objective is to guarantee justice, but for that, we need consensus. For this reason I arranged a public hearing on the subject with the Culture Commission. It is important to have representatives of the Court of Justice and the Public Ministry so that we can sign a TAC and the rule effectively enters into force”, said President of the Assembly, André Ceciliano (PT), candidate for the Senate.