Justice defeats government and frees Anderson Torres from returning R$87,600 in salaries

The Federal Court of Brasília accepted the request from the defense of Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) former Minister of Justice, Anderson Torres, and annulled a Union action that requested the return of R$87,600 in salaries received while he was imprisoned for alleged participation in the acts of January 8, 2023.

Torres is a Federal Police delegate and was preventively detained for four months after returning to Brazil, which, in theory, would release the Union from paying salaries based on a technical note established in 2020 by the Ministry of Economy.

His defense contested the return, arguing that suspending a public servant’s remuneration during his preventive detention “violates the presumption of innocence and the irreducibility of salaries”.

Judge Gabriel Zago de Paiza stated, in the decision taken on the night of this Wednesday (13) and made public on the morning of this Thursday (14), that the jurisprudence of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) is clear regarding the illegality of suspending civil servants’ remuneration during preventive detention. He highlighted the food nature of the salary, considering it impossible to refund the amounts received by Torres while he was imprisoned.

“In effect, it is impossible to determine the refund to the treasury of the remuneration (and food allowance) received during the period in which the public servant was preventively detained, and the illegality of the administrative decision must be recognized”, wrote the magistrate in the decision to that People’s Gazette had access.

He also stated that the remuneration “is of a food nature”, accepting the suspension of the collection by the Union “as a replacement for the treasury”.

Anderson Torres is suspected of participating in the alleged coup attempt to keep Bolsonaro in power after his defeat by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the 2022 presidential election. At the beginning of the following year, Torres assumed the position of Secretary of Security from the Federal District responsible for security at the Esplanada dos Ministérios for the protest on January 8th.

The defense denies any participation by Torres in the alleged coup attempt, claiming that he was on vacation and traveling abroad with his family.