STF: Moraes and PGR expand alignment under Gonet – 04/03/2024 – Power

Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), continued to attack the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) even after placing an ally in charge of the institution. The Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, took office just over three months ago and Moraes has already made at least four important decisions with opinions contrary to those of the Attorney General’s Office.

In the previous administration, under Augusto Aras, there was an internal assessment in the STF that it was natural for the magistrate to ignore the investigating body and empower the Federal Police, or even decide ex officio, to be able to advance the investigations against former president Jair Bolsonaro ( PL) and its allies.

The expectation, however, was that Moraes would stop ignoring PGR demonstrations after leading behind the scenes, together with minister Gilmar Mendes, a strong campaign in favor of Gonet’s nomination, last year.

Although the alignment has increased since his ally took over the PGR, Moraes continued to abuse the Prosecutor’s Office, a measure that is criticized by experts and goes against the majority of the STF’s decisions.

In several sensitive cases, such as the arrest of three people, including federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão (no party-RJ), the magistrate and the Prosecutor’s Office worked in harmony.

In other situations, however, Moraes preferred to ignore the PGR’s opinion, such as the day he ordered the arrest of a state deputy from Espírito Santo for attacks and threats to the STF, even in the face of a PGR opinion rejecting the measure.

Gonet also opposed the ban imposed on the national president of the PL, Valdemar Costa Neto, from communicating with other people being investigated and traveling outside Brazil. Moraes, however, issued the two court orders in the same way, in February.

Furthermore, in one of the operations that investigates whether the Bolsonaro government used Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) to spy on political opponents, the PGR diverged from an investigation requested by the PF against Priscila Pereira, former advisor to deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL- RJ). Moraes responded to the corporation’s request.

The minister ran roughshod over the Prosecutor’s Office on several occasions during the Aras administration, which ended last September. The former PGR was criticized by members of the Supreme Court for alleged omission in relation to then-president Bolsonaro’s offensives against institutions.

Former president of the STF Rosa Weber even stated in a decision that the command of the Federal Public Ministry could not fulfill “the role of spectator of the actions of the Powers of the Republic” in an action that dealt with suspected malfeasance by Bolsonaro in the case of the purchase of Indian vaccine Covaxin.

Moraes, in turn, denied requests from the PGR to close an investigation against Bolsonaro, as in the case that investigates whether the former president leaked confidential data; and on another occasion he circumvented the PGR to keep investigations ongoing.

In this case, Aras asked for the opening of an investigation to investigate undemocratic acts and, just over a year later, in 2021, he asked for the case to be closed before the STF on the grounds that there was no evidence against authorities with special jurisdiction.

The magistrate granted the request to close the investigation, but ordered the opening of another very similar investigation, which is still ongoing today, regarding the existence of a digital militia linked to Bolsonaro.

The expectation that the attacks on the PGR would end after the change in command of the institution was not confirmed.

In the case of Valdemar Costa Neto, the attorney general understood that he saw no reason for “the ban on maintaining contact with the other people being investigated, including through lawyers, and the ban on being absent from the country”, although he agreed to the searches.

“The purpose of collecting useful evidence does not seem to depend on these personal constraints, nor does it appear to be an indication of risk for the application of criminal law that would recommend the suggested limitations”, stated Gonet.

At the end of February, Moraes disregarded the PGR’s opinion against the arrest of state deputy Capitão Assumção (PL-ES) for non-compliance with precautionary measures. The Prosecutor’s Office defended the rejection of the request for preventive detention, but the minister ordered the detention anyway.

Gonet and Moraes became closer because the current attorney general was the representative of the PGR before the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) during the minister’s tenure at the head of the court.

After being nominated by President Lula (PT) and approved by the Senate, in December, to take command of the Prosecutor’s Office, Gonet said goodbye to the TSE with full praise for the minister.

“The example of an intimate stance with respect for democratic values, the values ​​of the legal order, unparalleled civic courage and absolute respect for the legal order and always with eyes focused on the good of republican values”, said Gonet to Moraes, in the TSE session.

Lawyer and doctor in criminal law Ruiz Ritter states that “decisions against those being investigated that are contrary to the understanding of the person responsible for the accusation are absolutely problematic from the point of view of judicial impartiality and completely illegal.”

“It cannot be accepted that judges descend from the position of third parties unrelated to the interests of the parties to act as accusers without subverting the constitutional accusatory system. The recent experience with Lava Jato, in fact, at a very high cost, should have been sufficient for this understanding “, he states.