Lira: Justice of Alagoas maintains the acquittal of cracks – 07/19/2023 – Power

The TJ (Court of Justice) of Alagoas maintained, in a session held this Wednesday (19), the acquittal of the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP), on the alleged “cracking” scheme in the Legislative Assembly.

The Criminal Chamber maintained the sentence that had been handed down by the 3rd Criminal Court of Maceió in December 2020.

The appreciation of the case occurred after an appeal filed by the Public Ministry of Alagoas questioning the acquittal.

Wednesday’s trial ended in a draw. However, as provided for in the TJ-AL regiment —as in other courts—, the decision most favorable to the defendant prevailed.

Arthur Lira was summarily acquitted in December 2020 by Judge Carlos Henrique Pita Duarte of the charge of running a “cracked” scheme from 2003 to 2006, when the parliamentarian was part of the state Legislative Assembly.

In the text of the decision, the judge declares the nullity of the evidence that guided the complaint. Carlos Henrique Pita Duarte also states in the document that the evidentiary material was collected with “violation of rights and non-observance of rules”, thus rejecting the accusation made.

The main argument was that the searches carried out by the Federal Police were invalid because the case would fall under the jurisdiction of the state court.

At the time, the Public Ministry said it was “surprised” by the decision. The complaint against Lira asked for his conviction for embezzlement, the prohibition of exercising public function and also payment of compensation for collective moral damage.

The case of the Assembly in the 2000s, called Operation Taturana, also led Lira to be convicted of impropriety in the Alagoas court, which threatened him with being framed under the Clean Record Law. This year, however, the PP deputy got the annulment of that decision in the STJ (Superior Court of Justice).