January 17, 2023

15:01

Daniel Amorim – from Amazon Agency

MANAUS – The Amazon judge Luis Carlos Valois had his accounts on social networks suspended after determination of the National Council of Justice (CNJ). In a post on Facebook, shared on the evening of Monday, 16, the magistrate said he is unaware of the reason for the block and had not yet been summoned to comply with the decision.

“Folks, this should be my last post on social media. The CNJ has ordered the blocking of all my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Only Twitter has been blocked, but soon the others should be too. I don’t know the reason yet, I haven’t been summoned, but even in respect to the CNJ’s decision I will not manifest myself in the networks even though my account is not blocked yet. You will not see any complaints or accusations from me, if institutionally I was wrong, let it be solved in a fair way. I thank everyone who is manifesting themselves, thank you!”

The magistrate has become one of the most active voices in the legal environment on the Internet commenting on decisions and cases of great repercussion. He gathers thousands of followers on his profiles. A supporter of the decriminalization of marijuana, he published the book “The Criminal Law of the War on Drugs”, a thesis presented at the Law School of the University of São Paulo (USP). The book was a finalist in the 59th Jabuti Award for Literature.

Valois also took a stand against “fake news” involving legal issues, and defended the guarantee of human rights of the prison population and the demilitarization of the prison system. One of the judge’s last publications on Twitter was a thread (sequence of posts) about the rights of vandals arrested after the invasion of the Three Powers in Brasília on January 8.

This was not the first time that the magistrate became the target of a CNJ decision. On November 23 last year, Valois shared an account on Facebook about the lawsuit the Council filed on account of criticism of Operation Lava Jato.

“When I made the post I didn’t think I was making a party political manifestation, which is what is forbidden to the judge, but a political one in the sense of defending and improving the judiciary itself, which, through some members, was effectively making party politics, as it was proved later,” said the magistrate at the time. The case was dismissed.

In January 2017, Valois acted as negotiator of one of the most dramatic events in the prison system of Amazonas: the rebellion in the Anísio Jobim Penitentiary Complex (Compaj), located at kilometer 8 of BR-174, where 56 inmates died in a clash of criminal factions.