Glauber Braga had his mandate in the Chamber of Deputies revoked by the Ethics Committee, but for no ethical or moral reason, and we’re going to prove it. But first, let’s present the real reasons for the persecution that Arthur Lira is making to have his mandate revoked.

Glauber Braga is known for facing up to and denouncing the Secret Budget^[2], whether on the floor of the House of Representatives, in the media, the Federal Police or the Supreme Court. This is the central reason for the political persecution that Arthur Lira^[2] is articulating against Glauber.

Glauber’s fighting profile is the essence of his mandate. During the impeachment of Brazil’s former president, Dilma Rousseff, he was one of the parliamentarians who was at the forefront of denouncing the ongoing coup and called Eduardo Cunha^[3] a gangster for being at the head of this coup process. Sergio Moro^[4] will be remembered as a judge who corrupted himself, as a thieving judge,” said Glauber, who fought the legal process against President Lula. In the fight against the privatization of Petrobras, he questioned whether Arthur Lira – at the time President of the Chamber of Deputies – was ashamed to defend the privatization of one of Brazil’s main state-owned companies.

The denunciation of the Secret Budget and Glauber Braga’s combative profile are the real reasons why Arthur Lira and his cronies want to silence Glauber and revoke his mandate.

Hunger strike: see what Glauber said 

“I’m on hunger strike in the Chamber of Deputies after the Ethics Council recommended my removal from office. Those who don’t know me might say that I want to appear. And that’s what it is. What happens here needs to come to light. The impeachment is linked to the accusations I made about the Secret Budget, articulated by Arthur Lira, who bought a house worth R$10 million, incompatible with his income tax declaration. Are we going to accept this handling of billions? I’m being persecuted, and everyone in the Chamber of Deputies knows it. I could go home and accept it, but I won’t. Today they are silencing my voice, tomorrow they will silence others. Lira has power and money, but he can’t buy what’s in my head.”

The false reason why Glauber is on the Ethics Committee

On April 16, 2024, an extreme right-wing provocateur went to the Chamber of Deputies with the mission of provoking and insulting Glauber Braga. As well as attacking Glauber, he attacked the honor of his mother, who was ill with Alzheimer’s and in hospital, and died a few days later. 

Glauber did what any of us would do: he defended his mother’s honor and threw this fascist out of the Chamber of Deputies, who was already pursuing his mandate in various activities

Evidence that there are no grounds for the annulment of Glauber’s mandate

Paulo Magalhães – Rapporteur of the request for impeachment

The rapporteur of the Ethics Commission case, deputy Paulo Magalhães, was caught assaulting a journalist in 2001 in the Chamber of Deputies. This is the reason why the rapporteur was suspected and therefore prevented from reporting on this case. 

Proof that the rapporteur is not acting ethically and impartially is his report: full of inconsistencies, which does not analyze the facts and starts defending Arthur Lira, who is not the reason for the ethics committee, as well as completely distorting the testimony of deputy Alberto Fraga, who was appointed as a witness for the prosecution and who said that if it were up to him, he would be more emphatic to defend his mother’s honor and that Glauber Braga should not be prosecuted.

The rapporteur, who is asking for Glauber’s mandate to be revoked, received millions of reais from the Secret Budget for his electoral base in Bahia, in other words, this report was bought. 

Below are some very serious cases, which are not comparable to Glauber Braga’s, and which really needed to be held accountable, and how they were dealt with in the Ethics Council: 

1- Chiquinho Brazão – Arrested for being one of the masterminds of Marielle Franco’s murder

Chiquinho Brazão was arrested in March 2024 by the Federal Police, at the request of the Supreme Court, for being one of the masterminds behind the murder of councilwoman Marielle Franco (PSOL) and her driver Anderson Gomes. Five months after his arrest, the Ethics Council recommended that he lose his mandate, but this did not happen because the process was not voted on in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies. Brazão is under house arrest and continues to receive his deputy’s salary. In this case, the vote of Paulo Magalhães – rapporteur of Glauber’s case – was not for the loss of mandate.

2- Delegado da Cunha – Violently assaulted his ex-partner

Federal deputy Delegado da Cunha made national headlines for violently assaulting his ex-partner. In the Ethics Council, he received a reprimand, i.e. a “slap on the wrist” that should have been read out in the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, something that never happened. The case was dropped.

3- Carla Zambelli – Armed pursuit of a citizen

Carla Zambelli, a far-right congresswoman, stalked journalist Luan Araújo at gunpoint during the 2022 elections. In the Supreme Court, there is already a majority of votes to convict her and the case never had any consequences in the Ethics Council.

4- Daniel Silveira – Arrested for anti-democratic acts

The extreme right-wing deputy was arrested for anti-democratic acts and for condoning Institutional Act No. 5^[5] and also became the target of several complaints in the Ethics Council. The council approved, by 12 votes to 8, a recommendation that he be suspended from office for six months, which never happened. It was through a decision by the Supreme Court that he lost his mandate with an 8-year prison sentence.

The request to revoke Glauber Braga’s mandate is political persecution

The Ethics Council, in extremely serious cases, has not acted to hold accountable crimes that have been proven to have been committed. Against Glauber, who committed no crime or ethical or moral deviation and who defended his mother’s honor, they want to revoke his mandate.

[1] The secret budget is a Brazilian legislative practice of allocating funds from the public budget to projects defined by parliamentarians without proper identification. The term “secret” appeared in the media precisely because of the lack of transparency regarding the amounts of each transfer and the names of the parliamentarians involved. To give you an idea of the scale, in the year 2025 alone, we are talking about more than R$50 billion.

[2] Arthur Lira is a Brazilian politician, he was president of the Chamber of Deputies from 2021 to 2025 and was responsible for forwarding and determining which deputy would receive the Secret Budget. In this sense, he exerts great influence over the members of the Chamber of Deputies.

[3] Eduardo Cunha is a Brazilian politician who was president of the Chamber of Deputies from 2015 to 2016. He was one of the organizers of the coup against former president Dilma Rousseff and was removed from office in 2016.

[4] Sergio Moro is a former judge who led Operation Car Wash, a judicial coup that unjustly imprisoned President Lula.

[5] Institutional Act 5 (AI-5) was one of the 17 institutional acts applied by the military dictatorship in Brazil. With AI-5, deputies were dismissed, censorship of the press and culture was instituted, Congress was closed and political meetings not authorized by the police became illegal and curfews became frequent.