Toffoli rejects Bolsonaro’s appeal against TSE fine for meeting with ambassadors

Minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Dias Toffoli rejected two appeals presented by the defense of former president Jair Bolsonaro and the Liberal Party (PL) against the decision of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) that imposed a fine of R$ 20 thousand for electoral propaganda irregular advance in the 2022 elections.

The case refers to the meeting with ambassadors, held by Bolsonaro at Palácio da Alvorada in July last year, in which the former president questioned the electronic electoral system. This same case caused the TSE to determine Bolsonaro’s ineligibility for eight years.

Toffoli analyzed two Extraordinary Appeals with Appeals (AREs) presented against the TSE’s decision. The Electoral Court considered that Bolsonaro disclosed “known untrue and out of context” facts about the voting and vote count process. “The former president and the party claimed, among other points, that the case should not have been analyzed by the Electoral Court, as the speech was given in the regular exercise of freedom of expression and the prerogatives of the then head of state”, he informed the STF, in a note.

Toffoli highlighted that “an extraordinary appeal is inadmissible if the constitutional provisions alleged to have been violated are not duly pre-questioned. According to the Court, the minister considered that “the disclosure of untrue and decontextualized facts in a speech by the then President of the Republic to diplomats gathered at the country represented relevant conduct within the scope of Electoral Law and was analyzed based on the rules that deal with electoral propaganda”.