Zanin defends himself from being called a ‘personal lawyer’ – 06/21/2023 – Power

With the prospect of a smooth approval, the Senate began this Wednesday morning (21) the hearing of Cristiano Zanin, President Lula’s (PT) first nominee for a seat on the STF (Federal Supreme Court).

In his opening speech to the senators, before the questions began, Zanin defended himself against being called terms such as “personal lawyer” and “luxury lawyer”.

Zanin is a personal friend of Lula and has advocated for him in Operation Lava Jato processes, but he also has a history of acting as a legal representative of large companies and other politicians.

Proximity to the president raised criticism of the nomination among opponents and in circles in the legal world, but the lawyer has the approval of STF ministers and a large number of politicians.

Here: Follow Zanin’s sabbath live

“I’m a lawyer. Some label me a personal lawyer, because I fought against personal interests, always respecting Brazilian laws and the Constitution,” he said.

“I am also classified as a luxury lawyer, because I defended, strictly based on Brazilian law, business cases of institutional agents that are important for the economy and that employ thousands of people. They still call me a lawyer by trade, as if it were a demerit.”

“I repeat whenever I tried to perform my role by fighting with mastery believing in what is most important for any legal professional: Justice”, he said.

Still on the subject, Zanin stated that in his actions as a lawyer he always followed “premises analogous to those of a judge” for keeping himself “in emotional and intellectual balance, even in times of great challenges”, and for “having a sense of justice, without never discredit laws and institutions”. The speech lasted just over 20 minutes.

After the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) sabbatine, the collegiate holds a secret ballot for Zanin’s name, in which the result is only symbolic. Afterwards, the decision passes to the plenary.

If approved, Zanin will be able to stay on the STF until November 2050, when he turns 75, the compulsory retirement age for court ministers. He will occupy the seat of retired minister Ricardo Lewandowski on the court.

Over the past week, Lula’s nominee toured the Senate offices to approach parliamentarians and garner support even among evangelicals and opponents of the current government.

On the 15th, Senator Veneziano Vital do Rego (MDB-PB) read his report on Zanin’s nomination, and stated that the lawyer meets the prerequisites to occupy the vacancy.

Veneziano highlighted the published articles and his 25-year career as a business, international, communication and electoral lawyer, in addition to “building and maintaining our constitutional jurisprudence, through the subscription of various Constitutional Claims, in order to ensure the authority of Supreme Court decisions”.

The image of a convinced guarantor conquered in clashes with former judge Sergio Moro and other members of Lava Jato is one of the main factors that left the Lula government optimistic for the easy approval of Zanin in the Senate.

With part of the senators being investigated and another part seeking shielding to avoid legal problems, the assessment is that the legal stance of carefully observing respect for the guarantees of those being investigated will have great weight in the vote of the majority of parliamentarians.

In the articulation to be approved, the lawyer had the help of STF ministers who have a good relationship with the political world, such as Gilmar Mendes and Alexandre de Moraes, and even former president Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) nominees for the court, such as Kassio Nunes Marques and André Mendonça.

Zanin became known in his career mainly for having made a tough, but technical, defense of Lula. He ended up becoming a target, including the PT itself, for his strategy during the president’s 580-day imprisonment.

In August 2019, for example, the Justice of São Paulo ordered that Lula be transferred from the Federal Police prison in Curitiba to the prison in Tremembé (SP).

People linked to the PT defended a petition to the São Paulo Court of Justice for Lula to be kept in the PF. Zanin insisted on going directly to the Supreme Court and had to put his foot down to advance. His maneuver proved to be the right one because, quickly, the STF decided to keep Lula in Curitiba.

A month later, the same group tried to convince Lula to ask for a humanitarian habeas corpus and house arrest.

Zanin went to the prison in Curitiba and complained to Lula about the balls on his back that he had been receiving while conducting the processes. He gave an ultimatum and got out of jail with the letter in which the petista stuck his foot and warned that he would not exchange his “dignity” for his “freedom”. The message was that Zanin was in charge of the case.

Since the beginning of this year, Lula has already shown signs that he would nominate Zanin to the court. When announcing his choice, the president said he thought “everyone expected” that the lawyer would be chosen.

“[Indiquei] not only because of the role he played in my defense, but simply because I think Zanin will become a great minister of the Supreme Court of this country”, said the president.

“I know his qualities as a lawyer, I know his qualities as a head of family and I know his background. He will be an exceptional minister of the STF if approved by the Senate, and I believe he will be, and I think Brazil will be proud to have Zanin as a minister of the Supreme Court,” he said.