‘It can kill and I congratulate whoever killed it’, says RS councilor about dogs on the streets; see VIDEO | Rio Grande do Sul

‘If you leave the yard, you could kill and I congratulate you’, says RS councilor about street dogs

A councilor from Fazenda Vilanova, about 90 kilometers from Porto Alegre, incited violence against dogs on the streets of the municipality in a speech in the Chamber. During the speech, which took place in the October 9th session, Leo Mota (PDT) stated that he would congratulate a neighbor if he killed any of his four dogs if he was ‘bothering’. (See video above)

“Guys, whoever wants to have a dog has to have one at home. Locked up in the yard, tied up. I, at my mother’s house, have four of them. If it leaves the yard and bothers the neighbor, it can kill it and I congratulate whoever killed it. It has to be in the house”, said the parliamentarian on the stand.

To g1, this Wednesday (1st), Mota cited a “political disagreement” between him and a deputy councilor from Teutônia, a neighboring municipality, who would be a defender of the animal cause and helped disseminate the video with the speech.

“Suddenly, because I don’t have much education and I’m a guy from the country, a bit rude, we express ourselves wrong. Before God, God knows what my intention was. People can try to incriminate me, but I don’t care. . I know, as a Christian, what I meant”, he pointed out.

The statement, according to him, occurred after a resident of Fazenda Vilanova suffered a traffic accident and broke his leg after having his front cut by a dog. The councilor also maintains that rural producers are suffering losses caused by dogs that invade their properties.

On Tuesday (31), on a social network, the councilor claimed that his speech in the Chamber was misinterpreted. He denied having advocated the death of dogs and said that the statement called for greater responsibility from owners towards their pets.

“At no point did I say that it has to be killed. When I say that it has to be eliminated, it means taking it off the street,” he said.

The case went viral this week after licensed federal deputy delegate Bruno Lima reposted the statement on social media. According to him, a letter has already been made so that the councilor’s statements can be investigated.

According to the Public Ministry of RS, three anonymous complaints arrived at the Estrela Public Prosecutor’s Office and are being analyzed.

In a statement, the presidency of the Chamber of Councilors stated that it “respects the right of expression and the material inviolability enjoyed by Parliamentarians, but does not condone or share ideas and actions that reach the set of constitutional rights”. The House added that “words that invoke mistreatment, violence or barbaric actions against animals were, are and will always be an object of repulsion.” (Read the full text below)

In a first video published about the case on social media, on October 23, Leo Mota had reaffirmed the position of the Chamber session. According to him, in Fazenda Vilanova, “we don’t have street dogs. Here we have dogs with owners who live on the street.”

“If it’s a project about the cause of animals for the Vilanova Finance Chamber, it won’t give me diarrhea, it won’t give me a stomach ache and I won’t submit a certificate. I’ll go there and vote against it”, he added.

Leo Mota is in his fourth term in the Legislature. He was re-elected in 2020 with 163 votes.

The Municipal Council of Fazenda Vilanova, through this note, clarifies the facts that generated repercussions following the statement by Councilor Leo Mota, in the plenary session on October 9, 2023.

The Legislative Power of Fazenda Vilanova respects the right of expression and the material inviolability enjoyed by Parliamentarians, but does not condone or share ideas and actions that affect the set of constitutional rights, among them and in particular the right to life of any species.

Words that invoke mistreatment, violence or barbaric actions against animals were, are and will always be an object of repulsion from Casa do Povo, today and always.

This manifestation by the Legislative House does not take away any citizen’s right to express themselves, in institutional and regulatory form, through our institutional communication channels. email and/or ombudsmanagainst the fact itself, using the legal tools made available to each and every person to present their narrative and vision of the facts in an orderly and identified manner, with the spheres of each Power being responsible for analyzing the acts that are their responsibility, within their scope that the Magna Carta grants them to take actions.

We also clarify that no comments made on the social media of this Legislative House were deleted, as we respect everyone’s opinion.

Fazenda Vilanova/RS, November 1, 2023.

João Batista Fernandes da Silva
President of the Chamber of Councilors of Fazenda Vilanova/RS