Criminalist Celso Sanchez Vilardi officially assumed this Thursday (9) the defense of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in the cases being processed in the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
Vilardi will replace lawyer Paulo Cunha Bueno, who led the former president’s defense. Bueno, however, will continue to work on Bolsonaro’s team of defenders.
Graduated in Law and master in Criminal Procedural Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), Vilardi is a specialist in General Process Theory. He was coordinator and is currently a professor of the postgraduate course in Economic Criminal Law at the Fundação Getulio Vargas School of Law in São Paulo (FGV/Law).
Indicted by the Federal Police (PF) for the crimes of violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, coup d’état and criminal organization, Bolsonaro awaits a probable indictment from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) on charges of conspiracy against the country’s democratic system to defend himself against imputations before the Supreme Court.
The PGR intends to present more than one complaint to the STF against the 40 people indicted in the coup investigation. The idea is to divide the accusations that affect Bolsonaro, former ministers Braga Netto and Augusto Heleno and 37 others involved in the case according to the “nuclei” of the criminal organization, but not necessarily with the names used by the PF to name these groups.
Illegal sale of jewelry and vaccination card
The new lawyer will still face the defense in the case of the illegal sale of Presidency jewelry, which led to the indictment of the former president for the crimes of embezzlement, money laundering and criminal association. Another case that is nearing completion is the one investigating a scheme to falsify vaccination cards against Covid-19.
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In March, Bolsonaro and 16 others were indicted for the crimes of criminal association and inserting false data into the Ministry of Health system. In April last year, Moraes responded to a request from the PGR and ordered the PF to deepen the investigations, which should be closed soon.
Bolsonaro’s involvement in the “parallel Abin”
In January 2024, the PF carried out a search and seizure warrant at the former president’s vacation home in Angra dos Reis, on the coast of Rio, as part of the operation investigating the connections of Carlos Bolsonaro (Republicans), councilor of the capital of Rio de Janeiro. and son of the former president, in an alleged illegal espionage scheme at the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin).
The main target of this offensive was the former director of Abin during the Bolsonaro administration and now federal deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ). The investigation focuses on the suspicion that Abin had been used illegally to serve the political and personal interests of Jair Bolsonaro and his family.
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The PF has already discovered that the agency used an Israeli spy system to monitor STF ministers and opponents of the then president’s government. The investigation targets alleged crimes of criminal organization, interception of telephone, IT or telematics communications without judicial authorization, or for purposes not authorized by law.
Attacks on Supreme Court ministers
There is an investigation being carried out in secret by the STF that investigates the dissemination of fake news by the former president and the carrying out of personal attacks on Supreme Court ministers. The process is reported by Alexandre de Moraes.
Supreme Court inquiry data leak
Another investigation underway at the STF is investigating whether Bolsonaro and other authorities had leaked confidential documents from the investigation into attacks against Court ministers. The process was opened at the request of the President of the Supreme Court, Luís Roberto Barroso, in August 2021.
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Interference in the PF
While he was President, Bolsonaro changed command of the PF four times. The STF opened an investigation to investigate whether these changes were made with the supposed aim of benefiting the former president’s children and allies in investigations.
