TSE creates shortcut to include investigations into Bolsonaro – 02/16/2023 – Power

The TSE (Tribunal Superior Tribunal) decided that information produced in police inquiries, such as those in progress at the STF (Federal Supreme Court), can be incorporated into actions that target the ticket headed by Jair Bolsonaro (PL) for abuse of power in the elections.

At the Supreme Court, the former president is the target of investigations, for example, for spreading fake news against the electoral system and more recently on suspicion of stirring up the Bolsonarist horde against the headquarters of the three Powers on January 8.

Last Tuesday (14), the ministers of the electoral court met to deliberate on an appeal against the inclusion of the coup draft in the case file relating to the meeting of the former representative with ambassadors at the Palácio do Alvorada in July 2022, the occasion in which he attacked electronic voting machines.

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In addition to keeping the document collected at the residence of former Minister of Justice Anderson Torres in the process, the members of the TSE established that new facts can be evaluated in the context of electoral actions, even if instituted in a different context.

The coup draft was seized by the Federal Police during a search at the home of Torres, who is also a former Secretary of Public Security for the Federal District. The seizure of the document was revealed by the Sheet.

The text dealt with a proposal for a decree for the former chief executive to establish a state of defense in the TSE and, with that, reverse the result of the election in which Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) won. Such a measure would be unconstitutional.

The document was found at the residence of the former Minister of Justice on January 12. Subsequently, the PDT, author of the process, asked for the paper to be attached to the case file, understanding that it was part of a strategy devised by Bolsonaro to discredit the Electoral Justice.

When appealing against the inclusion of the coup draft in the TSE’s investigation, Bolsonaro’s lawyers stated that the addition of new documents would be exceptional, requiring, ‘in addition to demonstrating that they were not available on the date the action was filed, the unequivocal demonstration of concrete, direct and immediate correlation” with the object of the process.

The PDT action was filed in August, within the deadline for filing AIJEs (electoral judicial investigation action), with the aim of investigating alleged illegal conduct by candidates. In the presidential election, the deadline occurred on December 12, when Lula was certified by the TSE.

The Electoral Inspector General, Minister Benedito Gonçalves, rejected the former president’s arguments.

For the rapporteur of the actions that investigate the Bolsonaro-Braga Netto ticket, “circumstances relevant to the context of the facts revealed in other investigative or jurisdictional police procedures” should be analyzed within the scope of these processes, in the case of the coup draft.

In the opinion of the magistrate, supervening elements to the presentation of the actions to the court or to the diplomation of the elected ones can contribute to demonstrate developments of originally narrated facts, the seriousness of conducts or responsibility of investigated.

“There is no way to support the idea that the delimitation of the cause of action provokes a complete and irreversible cut in the phenomenal reality, generating such a detachment of the facts in relation to their context that it prevents the adjudicating body from taking into account circumstances that gradually become known or potential developments of the conduct under investigation”, said the minister, when denying the former president’s appeal.

Gonçalves’ proposal was endorsed by the plenary unanimously. In addition to Gonçalves, the court is composed of ministers Alexandre de Moraes (president), Ricardo Lewandowski (vice), Cármen Lúcia, Raul Araújo, Sérgio Banhos and Carlos Horbach.

The result, therefore, opens the door for the information and conclusions produced within the scope of inquiries in progress at the Supreme Court under the rapporteur of Moraes to be eventually attached, at the request of their authors, to the actions in progress at the TSE.

For lawyer Luiz Fernando Pereira, general coordinator of the Brazilian Academy of Electoral and Political Law, the TSE’s decision is in line with the jurisprudence of the court formed in the Dilma Rousseff (PT)-Michel Temer (MDB) case, the target of questioning for abuse of power in the 2014 elections.

He remembers that the court admitted that PSDB included a series of new facts that were not exactly developments of those originally narrated in the action.

“The TSE maintains its jurisprudence, but admits this gathering of elements that are intended to demonstrate the unfolding of the facts originally narrated”, says Pereira.

There are 17 investigation actions that discuss irregularities attributed to the ticket led by Bolsonaro, including accusations of use of the public machine such as the release of social benefits.

Traditionally, these lawsuits have been slow and required robust evidence. Only in June 2017, for example, did the TSE reach a verdict and reject the impeachment of the ticket formed by Dilma-Temer, re-elected three years earlier.

There are signs that the court may abbreviate the outcome of the lawsuits against Bolsonaro.

As shown to Sheet, the electoral inspector-general indicated to allies that he wanted to speed up the pace of the judgments, considering that this type of instrument ends up dragging on for years. Minister of the Superior Court of Justice, Gonçalves has a mandate on the electoral court until November.

According to people close to TSE ministers, the magistrates intend to annihilate the bill before Minister Ricardo Lewandowski retires in May. That’s because his departure will result in the entry of Kassio Nunes Marques, nominated for the Supreme by Bolsonaro.