STF forms majority to expand privileged forum rule

This Friday (12), with a vote from the president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), minister Luís Roberto Barroso, the Court formed a majority to expand the rule to the prerogative of forum, also called privileged forum.

The judge followed the case’s rapporteur, Minister Gilmar Mendes, who established the thesis that the case of a defendant with privileged jurisdiction should be maintained in the STF even after resignation, not re-election or revocation of mandate.

According to the rapporteur, the person being investigated should only lose jurisdiction if the crimes were committed before taking office or were unrelated to the exercise of the role. The result of the trial will affect federal deputies and senators who respond to proceedings in the STF.

Minister Barroso agreed with the argument that sending the case to another instance when the mandate ends produces losses.

“This procedural ‘up-and-down’ produced obvious harm to the closure of investigations, affecting the effectiveness and credibility of the criminal system. It also fed the permanent temptation for defendants to manipulate the jurisdiction”, said Barroso in an excerpt of his vote.

The trial resumed this Friday after spending some time suspended due to a request for a review made by Barroso. The minister released the action for trial earlier this month.

After Barroso’s vote, the trial was once again suspended due to a request for review made by minister André Mendonça.

The case being analyzed and which allowed the resumption of discussions on the forum refers to the request for habeas corpus by senator Zequinha Marinho (PL-PA), investigated for “rachadinha” in 2013, when he was a federal deputy.

The parliamentarian’s defense claims that the Federal District Court is incompetent to judge him and that the case must be processed in the Supreme Court, because since the complaint he has held positions with forum prerogative.

Gilmar Mendes decided to present a new thesis on the privileged forum, considering that the last one was defined by the STF in May 2018. At the time, the ministers argued that deputies and senators should only respond to criminal proceedings in the Court if the alleged facts had occurred during the term of office and were related to the exercise of the position.

In addition to Gilmar and Barroso, ministers Dias Toffoli, Flávio Dino, Cristiano Zanin and Alexandre de Moraes also voted to expand the rule.