Former deputy Daniel Silveira.| Photo: Bruno Spada/Chamber of Deputies

Defense lawyers for former deputy Daniel Silveira must file a lawsuit with the Federal Supreme Court to ask for a review of the former congressman’s conviction. The decision was announced one day after the formation of a majority in the STF plenary considering the pardon granted to the parliamentarian in 2022 by then-president Jair Bolsonaro to be unconstitutional.

According to Paulo Cesar Faria, Daniel Silveira’s lawyer, the idea is to seek the annulment of the sentence based on the illegalities that occurred during the process and the trial. “We are going to file a criminal review to annul this aberration given by the STF full of illegalities, vices, nullities and other attributes that invalidate the conviction. If there is still law in this country and a remnant of the Constitution, everything has to be overturned,” he told CNN.

Daniel Silveira was sentenced in April 2022, by the STF itself, to more than 8 years in prison in a closed regime, in addition to the loss of political rights and payment of a fine, under the justification of having committed a crime against the Democratic State of Law and uttering threats to members of the STF through virulent videos posted on social media. Less than 24 hours after the conviction, Silveira was granted a presidential pardon and was released from prison. He ended up being arrested again on February 2, 2023 by order of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, for allegedly failing to comply with precautionary measures, and has remained in prison ever since.