Italian transcription system is pointed out as a model

On Tuesday (16), during a public hearing of the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee (CPI) on Clandestine Telephone Taps, experts defended that phone interceptions be authorized only for more severe crimes. The matter was debated by the professor on Procedural Penal Law at the Law School of the University of São Paulo (USP), Ada Pellegrini Grinover, and by the lawyer Luiz Guilherme Vieira.

The hearing was proposed by the rapporteur on the committee, Deputy Nelson Pellegrino (PT-BA). The CPI should present proposals for the reformulation of Law 9.296/96, which regulates the use of taps.

Defined term
Ada Pellegrini suggested an interception term of 60 days, and, only in exceptional cases, of 180 days. “The interceptions should not be insidious instruments of breach of privacy. Therefore, legislation should define the strict need and the prohibition of excesses”, she affirmed.

The lawyer Luiz Guilherme Vieira, though, disagrees with the interception term proposed by Ada. For him, the ideal would be 30 days, which could be extended for 30 more days, in case of permanent crimes, such as kidnapping.
However, he agrees that the phone interception be only allowed in more severe crimes, whose sentence would be longer than two years.

Vieira wants also that the interception of the conversation between the client and his lawyer be forbidden, since, from his standpoint, that harms defense. Another proposal from the lawyer is that the interception requirement be reviewed by the Public Ministry.

Italian system
Ada affirmed that she prefers the Italian transcription system, where the parties listen to the recordings and indicate what they want to be transcribed. Vieira also considers critical that defense have access to the recordings. According to her, what currently interests the defense is not included in the transcription. The federal police transcribes only what interests them”, he protested.

The professor of USP proposed also that secrecy in the recordings be maintained only during the investigations. If there is as leak during that period, she suggests that an investigation be made, to find out who broke secrecy. Ada Pellegrini does not agree, though, with the penalization of journalists. She said that she got to propose that in her draft bill and was much criticized. During Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s administration, the professor coordinated a work group which proposed the reformulation of the Penal Procedure Code. The eight bills were forwarded to the Chamber in January 2001 and include rules about lawful phone interception.

At the end of the hearing, the president of the CPI, Deputy Marcelo Itagiba (PMDB-RJ), said that it is still necessary to make additional debates on that theme.

Report - Oscar Telles
Editing - Marcos Rossi
Translation – Positive Idiomas Ltda