Utilization of the proof obtained by the parliamentary investigating committee in the criminal process

• Grant number: 12/06439-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2012
• End date: May 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law - Public Law
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Alexandre Coelho Zilli
• Grantee: Raphael Abs Musa de Lemos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Direito (FD). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

By disposing of article 58, § 3º, of the Brazilian Federal Constitution that the parliamentary investigating committees have "the investigatory powers proper to the judicial authorities", have the Constituent clarified the limits to those powers? Furthermore, are the judges entitled to investigatory powers in the Brazilian criminal process system? The lack of a rigorous definition of the investigating committees' investigatory powers is, in this manner, the reason for repeated violations of individual rights and guarantees. Although the legal provisions refer to concepts related to the criminal process, few studies delimit the investigatory powers of the parliamentary investigating committees under the twofold perspective of the Constitutional Law and the Criminal Process. Besides, in the rare moments that it has been tried to treat the subject in this way, it was evident that the expressions were used, technically, in an inaccurate sense - for example, the affirmative that the investigating committees have the instructive powers from the judicial authorities. Afterward, having in mind the article 58, § 3º, of the Brazilian Federal Constitution, which contains the possibility of a prosecutor accusing the investigated individual of the practice of a crime, it should be examined how the proofs collected by the investigating committees are being utilized in the criminal prosecution. Therefore, this research's approach will be the proposition of a regimen, which, on one side, establishes the limits of proofs obtainment by the investigating committees in harmony with the regimen of liberties adopted by the Constitution and, on the other side, points to the paths of validity and incorporation of those proofs in the criminal process. (AU)