Justice dismisses Maria do Rosário’s lawsuit against Jair Bolsonaro

The Justice of the Federal District decided, this Monday (24), to archive the criminal action in which former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) was accused of insults against federal deputy Maria do Rosário (PT-RS). In the decision, Judge Francisco Antonio Alves de Oliveira found that, in accordance with criminal law, the crimes of slander and injury imputed to the former president expired.

“In view of the date of receipt of the criminal complaint, the period in which the process remained suspended, the corresponding statute of limitations and the maximum penalty imposed in the case, the statute of limitations for the punitive claim of the State has occurred, since more than three years have passed without other causes of interruption and suspension having occurred”, wrote the magistrate in a record of the Brazil Agency.

On December 9, 2014, in a speech in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies, Bolsonaro said that the only reason he would not rape Maria do Rosário was because “she did not deserve it”, in a criticism of the appearance of her colleague in parliament. The following day, the then parliamentarian repeated the statement in an interview with the newspaper Zero hour. Later, the deputy sued Bolsonaro.

The former president went on to respond to the accusations at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), but the process was suspended after he took over as Presidency of the Republic in 2019. With the end of the mandate and the privileged forum, the Supreme Court determined that the case should be processed again in the first instance of Justice of the DF.

Bolsonaro’s defense claimed that the clash between Maria do Rosário and him took place within Congress and should be protected by the constitutional rule of parliamentary immunity, which prevents criminal imputation of his statements.