The action presented by the coalition of the current president and then candidate (PT) in the (Superior Electoral Court) against completed more than two years without having completed even the phase of summoning the investigated, when they are officially informed of the process and a deadline is set for defense presentation.
The pending issues to end this initial phase include identifying who is responsible for a profile on X (formerly Twitter) and the subpoena of three targets, who have not been located until now. One of the difficulties is that there are dozens of targets in the action — he even gave up part of the anonymous profiles along the way, but still maintained almost 50 targets.
With different arguments, the defenses contest the accusations. Several of them point out that the conduct of each person under investigation was not individualized and that the accusations are generic.
The action targets, in addition to the former president (), his then running mate, , and three of his children: councilor Carlos (PL-RJ), federal deputy Eduardo (PL-SP) and senator Flávio (PL- RJ).
Bolsonaro and Braga Netto’s defense argues that the action does not provide minimal evidence and that it does not even describe how the different people being investigated would have integrated themselves into the alleged criminal group to form a supposed articulated network.
Among the politicians are names such as the federal deputy (PL-MG), who is now at the center of the clash between the opposition and the Lula government, under the understanding that he would have driven a wave of fake news on the subject.
“Several represented parties are mentioned in a single event in a completely sparse manner, making it impossible to even raise the motivation for being listed [na ação]”, stated his defense in the process.
Federal deputies (PL-RJ), Bia Kicis (PL-DF), Gustavo Gayer (PL-GO), (PL-SP), Caroline de Toni (PL-SC), Ricardo Salles (Novo-SP) are also targets. and Mario Frias (PL-RJ).
The authors’ thesis is that there would be an “ecosystem of Bolsonaro disinformation” working to “usurp topics of public debate”, with content against the PT’s candidacy and in favor of Bolsonaro’s candidacy, including topics such as crime, customs, religion and against the integrity of the electoral system.
Lula’s coalition asked that the penalties provided for by law be applied to this type of action, which includes the penalty of ineligibility and revocation of mandate, to those investigated in general.
According to jurisprudence on jurisdiction, however, with the exception of the presidential ticket [Bolsonaro e Braga Netto]who, if she had been elected, would have been subject to impeachment, the other targets would only be subject to the penalty of ineligibility. This is because, in theory, deputies and senators could only be revoked in actions filed with regional electoral courts.
Zambelli, Nikolas and Gayer were also the target of actions in regional courts related to disinformation presented by PSOL candidates.
In 2023, Zambellli’s case at TRE-SP was sent to be processed at the TSE, following a request from the deputy’s defense alleging a connection between the cases. Subsequently, however, the higher court sent the case back to the São Paulo court, on the grounds of jurisdiction.
Last month, the TRE-SP and, after requesting a review, the trial was suspended.
The action against Gayer had a unanimous decision by TRE-GO against the conviction last April, but an appeal was filed with the TSE.
Nikolas, in turn, is the target of two actions being processed together at TRE-MG. In addition to the one presented by PSOL, the other is from the federation formed by PT, PC do B and PV, and which is still waiting for the sharing of evidence.
Always under the responsibility of whoever occupies the seat of electoral inspector, the action at the TSE is already in its third report, having been redistributed to Raul Araújo at the end of 2023 and, last October, to minister Isabel Gallotti.
Initially, the action in the TSE against the “disinformation ecosystem” targeted almost 80 targets, but the PT coalition withdrew more than 20 profiles at the beginning of the process, after being notified by the then rapporteur, Benedito Gonçalves, to take the measures it deemed relevant so that all targets were identified.
However, it decided to maintain profiles that it considered to be of “significant relevance” to the practices reported in the action, one of which remains unidentified.
According to PT’s statement from last December, the registration information provided by Tim (based on data sent by X) belonged to the holder of that telephone number since January 2023 — a date subsequent to the posts indicated in the action. And, therefore, he asked that a new letter be sent to the social network.
The coalition also requested that two other people being investigated be summoned to new addresses and that commentator Rodrigo Constantino be summoned by email.
They are also included in the list of investigated influencers, owners of YouTube channels and websites. It was in this action that the TSE gave an (urgent) preliminary decision for the production company Brasil Paralelo to be launched before the election and temporarily suspending the monetization of three channels on YouTube.
Lula’s coalition also filed a lawsuit with the TSE focused on attacks on the electoral system and with a more restricted list of those being investigated. Along with Bolsonaro, his sons Eduardo and Flávio are targets, as well as Kicis, Zambelli, Nikolas, Gayer, senator Magno Malta and Braga Netto.
In this action, the inclusion of evidence whose sharing had already been approved in 2023 was still pending.
In a note to Sheet On December 19, the Internal Affairs department informed that letters were sent to the Senate and the STF in June 2024 requesting, respectively, copies of testimonies to and from the digital militia investigation, but that, until that date, there had been no response .
