The minister of the (Federal Supreme Court) closed the case against the family accused of harassing the magistrate’s son at the airport in 2023. The minister eliminated the possibility of punishment against the three accused.
In this Monday’s decision (2), the rapporteur considered the retraction made by Roberto Mantovani Filho, Andreia Munarão and Alex Zanata Bignotto. The three issued a formal apology on November 27.
The Mantovani family asked the victims to recant, which means, in law, recognizing the crime with the aim of ending the legal process.
The three were denounced on charges of insult and slander and, in the case of Mantovani, also of real insult (when, to offend or disrespect someone, the offender resorts to violence).
“Considered the unique context involving the facts narrated in the complaint and the confession of the crimes committed by the accused (retraction), I declare their punishments extinct”, said Toffoli.
He stated in August that he was seeking a new trial on the issue “which has already been decided and confirmed.”
captured at Rome International Airport. The OAB (Brazilian Bar Association) even declared itself in favor of providing “all copies necessary for professional practice”.
This Monday, Ralph Tórtima Filho’s lawyers, who defend the Mantovani, celebrated the decision.
“The defense sees Minister Dias Toffoli’s decision as very positive, which extinguishes the punishability of the facts, with the consequent archiving of the files, making the case closed.”
Toffoli removed the confidentiality of the process in October 2023, but images of the confusion were not released.
At the time, the minister said that the video showed people who were not involved in the case, including children and teenagers. “No relation to the fact investigated, therefore, their rights to image and privacy must be preserved.”
In July 2023, after the episode in Italy, the three accused were approached by the PF as soon as they landed in Brazil and ended up becoming the target days later of searches ordered by the then president of the Supreme Court, .
The understanding changed in relation to the first report on the case. Initially, in February this year, delegate Hiroshi de Araújo Sakaki, then responsible for the case, closed the investigation and concluded that Mantovani committed the crime of real insult against Moraes’ son.
The police chief, however, did not indict the businessman, that is, he did not formally attribute the crime to him. The investigator’s argument was that there would be a normative instruction from the PF that prohibits indictment for a crime of lesser offensive potential, with a maximum penalty of two years.
The investigation was marked by actions considered questionable by experts, including the exposure of conversations between Mantovani and his lawyer.
When reporting the hostility in 2023, Moraes said he was called a “bandit, communist and bought”. He also stated that his son, lawyer Alexandre Barci de Moraes, suffered an attack that caused his glasses to fall to the floor.
Mantovani’s family stated at the time that the hostility against the magistrate did not come from them, they denied any aggression and said that Moraes called one of them a “criminal”.
The case mobilized political support for Moraes, and Lula referred to the hostility as an act of . “We need to severely punish people who still transmit hatred, like the citizen who attacked minister Alexandre de Moraes at Rome airport,” said the president at the time.
