In June 2023, the Sixth Panel of the (Superior Court of Justice) judged habeas corpus filed in favor of Antônio Vinicius Lopes Gritzbach, against the decision of the Court of Justice of São Paulo, and revoked his arrest.
The whistleblower would be shot dead at Guarulhos airport, on November 8, 2024.
The defense claimed that the crime for which Gritzbach was accused had been committed 15 months earlier and that he was free for a year without any new facts. He also argued that the defendant was a first-time offender, had no criminal record, had a lawful job and had a permanent residence.
The deputy attorney general of the Republic had decided to deny the order.
Dodge maintained that Gritzbach had been charged with the crime of double homicide, with evidence that he was the intellectual co-author of the crime, committed “with extreme violence against the victim, who had received numerous gunshots on public roads, during the day, by financial motivation”.
A report showed that Gritzbach had participated in the deaths of Anselmo Bechelli Santa Fausta and Antonio Corona Neto, with evidence of having been an intellectual co-author.
The habeas corpus was filed by criminalist Eduardo de Vilhena Toledo. Lawyer Anna Carolina Menezes de Noronha Nina Oliveira, daughter of minister João Otávio de Noronha, gave the oral argument.
At the request of the blog, lawyer and former public prosecutor Airton Florentino de Barros watched the recording of the habeas corpus trial session and analyzed the published documents.
“The responsibility of the person who ordered the murder is always difficult to ascertain. And preventive detention can only be ordered when the existence of the crime and sufficient evidence of authorship are proven,” he stated.
“Habeas corpus, in my opinion, could even be granted.”
Barros says that Noronha’s daughter did not strike him as an inexperienced lawyer. “The strange thing is this privilege of lawyers who are relatives of ministers being able to take appeals to the very rare trial on the merits.”
Chronology of slowness
The crime was committed in December 2021. The first-degree judge accepted the request for temporary arrest in February 2022. The following month, in light of the demonstration, he revoked the precautionary arrest. He understood that “arrests are not essential for the continuity of investigations.”
In January 2023, Gritzbach was denounced for allegedly committing the crime of qualified homicide (twice), suspected of having ordered the crime. The first degree court received the complaint and ordered the defendant’s preventive detention.
The elements indicated that the crimes had been committed within the scope of a criminal organization, putting the entire society at risk. The arrest warrant was only served a month later, in Itacaré, Bahia, in a luxury inn.
The arrest was relaxed because there was no custody hearing within the legal deadline.
Soon after, the arrest would be ordered again. A report showed that Gritzbach participated in the deaths of the two victims and there was evidence that he had been an intellectual co-author.
The rapporteur, minister Sebastião Reis Júnior, voted to grant habeas corpus:
“Despite the state court making important considerations regarding the seriousness of the crime reported, it did not point out individually how the patient’s freedom could put criminal investigation and public order at risk, nor could it pose a risk to the economic order.“
Reis also considered the measure’s lack of contemporaneity.
As Gritzbach was arrested in Bahia, it would not be possible to justify maintaining custody in an exclusive defense action.
The rapporteur voted to replace preventive detention with alternative precautionary measures. The Sixth Panel followed its vote.
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