Mendonça suspends action that made Renan defendant for offending Lira – 05/31/2023 – Politics

Minister André Mendonça, of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), suspended the proceedings in which Senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL) became a defendant for slander, libel and defamation in a lawsuit filed by the mayor, Arthur Lira ( PP-AL).

In January, the 1st Criminal Court of Brasilia accepted a complaint by Lira against the senator for crimes against honor.

Mendonça, however, granted an injunction (provisional) to suspend the processing of the case on the grounds that the first instance of the Federal Court usurped the competence of the STF when analyzing the subject.

The decision is given in the midst of the dispute between Renan and Lira that has hindered President Lula’s (PT) relationship with his base in the Chamber and Senate.

Lira sued the countryman from Alagoas for being called a thief. “It continues to steal in the secret budget”, he said, in relation to the so-called rapporteur amendments, which were paid without transparency and were overturned by the Supreme Court.

Mendonça stated, however, that the action could not have been analyzed by the first instance of the Judiciary.

“I see legal plausibility in the thesis that the post made by a senator of the Republic, addressing criticism in the context of a political dispute against a federal deputy, even if, in theory, incurring possible criminal types, fits, prima facie, in the criteria established by the STF on the occasion of the judgment of the question of order in criminal action nº 937/RJ”, he said, in relation to the judgment that restricted the scope of the special forum for parliamentarians.

The magistrate stated that, in this case, “there is a relationship of pertinence” between Renan’s conduct and the performance of the senator’s term, which attracts the competence of the Supreme Court to the case.

Renan’s publication against Lira on social networks took place in the midst of the dispute for the Government of Alagoas, last year.

“Arthur Lira is a thief already convicted of deviations in the Assembly. He continues to steal in the secret budget, getting his hands dirty in the PF/AL to which he brought the ally. Removing the governor – favorite who almost won in the 1st round – for an investigation is the anomaly which will be rejected by Alagoas”, wrote the senator.

Renan was referring to the removal of the governor of Alagoas, Paulo Dantas (MDB), determined by Minister Laurita Vaz, rapporteur of the case at the STJ. Later, the Supreme Court overturned the decision.

Renan’s lawyer, Luís Henrique Machado, claims that the minister was right to recognize that the attribution to evaluate the matter was the STF.

“There is no doubt that the statement made by the senator did not go beyond a strictly political manifestation. It is known that emotions in electoral periods are intensified, so that the jurisprudence is firm in this sense”, he said.

Lira has not yet commented on the decision.