Rapporteur promises ‘maximum objectivity’ in Bolsonaro’s trial at TSE – 06/22/2023 – Power

The action that could make former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) ineligible began to be analyzed this Thursday (22) by the TSE (Superior Electoral Court), with the prospect that the trial will only end next Thursday (29) .

Initially, the Corregidor General of Electoral Justice, Minister Benedito Gonçalves, reads the report of the action presented by the PDT against Bolsonaro and his candidate for vice president on the 2022 ticket, former Minister Walter Braga Netto (PL).

As he began his speech at the trial, he promised “maximum objectivity” in reading the report, the initial step of the trial.

“I advance that in reading I will refrain from detailing the issues that have already been the subject of interlocutory decisions submitted to the scrutiny of this collegiate”, said Benedito.

“I will also give maximum objectivity to the approach of the other points. I will do this, however, with the care of being didactic and of well reflecting the allegations of fact and law that made up the debate in contradictory.”

The report is not yet your vote. It is just a summary of the course of action in the TSE, informing all the procedures requested in the action, as well as what were the testimonies taken and other measures.

Afterwards, the lawyers representing the prosecution —in this case, the PDT— and the defenses will speak respectively.

The PDT accuses Bolsonaro of having committed abuse of political power and misuse of the media at the meeting in which he presented lies about electronic voting machines to ambassadors in July last year, at the Alvorada Palace.

At the time, less than three months before the first round, Bolsonaro made false and distorted statements about the electoral process, claiming to be based on official data, in addition to seeking to discredit TSE ministers.

If declared ineligible by the TSE, Bolsonaro, 68, will not be able to run for eight years – a period that starts with the 2022 election.

The event lasted about 50 minutes and was broadcast on TV Brasil. At the time, the government’s Secretariat of Communication barred the press, allowing only vehicles that committed to broadcast the event live.

The assessment of court observers is that the lawsuit filed by the PDT will be analyzed not only in relation to the event itself, but in the context of repeated statements and actions by Bolsonaro against the Brazilian electoral system and against ministers of higher courts.

The rapporteur of the process, Benedito Gonçalves, indicated in his decisions that he will adopt this type of understanding and has had the support of most of his colleagues.

This became clear, for example, when Benedito agreed to include in the process the draft of the coup decree found by the Federal Police at the residence of Anderson Torres, former Minister of Justice, revealed by the Sheet on January 12th. At that time, the action was already in the electoral court.

According to current legislation, if convicted, the former president will be able to run again in 2030, at the age of 75, thus staying away from three elections until then (one of them being the 2026 national).

The action against Bolsonaro is an Aije (electoral judicial investigation action), which can be filed up to the date of the candidate’s graduation.

This instrument aims to investigate conduct that may affect the equality of dispute in the election, such as abuse of economic power, authority or misuse of the media for the benefit of a candidate.

One of Bolsonaro’s lines of defense has been to maintain that the speeches at the event were made as head of state and as an act of government, with the aim of “dispelling doubts about the transparency of the electoral process”. In addition, they point out that the target audience of the event was not voters, but people without Brazilian citizenship.