PGR asks for Moro’s arrest for saying that Gilmar Mendes sells habeas corpus

The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) denounced to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Senator Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR) for alleged crime of slander against the Minister of the Court Gilmar Mendes. Last Friday (14), a video was released on social media in which the former Lava Jato judge talks about “buying a habeas corpus from Gilmar Mendes”.

“No, this is bail, institute… to buy a habeas corpus from Gilmar Mendes”, says Moro in the video. The Deputy Attorney General of the Republic, Lindôra Araújo, considered that the senator committed the crime of slander against the dean of the STF by “falsely imputing the crime of passive corruption” to the minister.

“At an uncertain date, time and place, the accused SERGIO FERNANDO MORO, with free will and conscience, slandered the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court GILMAR FERREIRA MENDES, falsely imputing to him the crime of passive corruption, provided for in article 317 of the Penal Code, by saying that the victim requests or receives, due to his public function, an undue advantage to grant habeas corpus, or accepts a promise of such advantage”, says the deputy attorney general.

The PGR argues that if the penalty applied to Moro exceeds four years in prison, he should lose his mandate. “The accused SERGIO FERNANDO MORO issued the statement in public, in the presence of several people, with the knowledge that he was being recorded by a third party, which facilitated the dissemination of the slanderous statement, which became public on April 14, 2023, gaining wide repercussions in the national press and in the social networks of the World Wide Web”, says the PGR.

In addition, the PGR requests that an indemnity be fixed to Gilmar Mendes “considering the damage suffered”. For Lindôra, Moro “acted with the clear intention of tarnishing the image and objective honor of the offended party, trying to discredit his performance as a magistrate of the highest court in the country”.

In the document, Lindôra also asks that Moro be notified “to present a preliminary response to the accusation, within fifteen days”; and that the complaint be received by the Court, responsible for analyzing actions against public agents with privileged jurisdiction, and “the consequent initiation of the criminal action, with the summons of the accused to offer defense prior to the terms of the imputation, within five days”.