The minister and president of the First Class of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Cristiano Zanin, scheduled for March 25 and 26.
Only five of the 11 court ministers will make the trial, as the case is based to be debated in one of the Court’s collegiate. In addition to Zanin, the first class is composed of the following ministers: Alexandre de Moraes, Luiz Fux, Flávio Dino and Cármen Lúcia.
During the contestation period, several defenses requested that the trial occur in the STF plenary, allowing the case to be analyzed by a larger number of ministers, including André Mendonça and Kassio Nunes Marques, nominated by Bolsonaro. However, these requests were denied.
The case analysis by the first class is based on the Supreme Court’s Internal Regulations.
In December 2023, the Court decided that original criminal actions against people with privileged forum – that is, criminal proceedings that start directly at the Supreme Court, without going through other instances before – are the responsibility of the classes.
Rather, the competence was the plenary – maximum court of the Court.
The change in the bylaws aimed to make the distribution of criminal proceedings more efficient, reducing the overload of the plenary and enabling the resolution of criminal actions faster.
This change was proposed by the Supreme Court President, Minister Luís Roberto Barroso. At the time, he considered that the attacks of January 8, 023, when Bolsonarists invaded and depredated the headquarters of the three powers in Brasilia, “brought back to court the overview of excess of proceedings and possible slowness in their processing and judgment.”
Since December 2023, therefore, any original criminal action against privileged authorities has been analyzed by the STF classes.
But why will the trial on the coup cloth go to the first class and not to the second class?
This is because process is under the rapporteur of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, who is a member of the first class. Therefore, the process is automatically directed to the rapporteur’s collegiate.
On March 25, the ministers of the First Class may begin to judge the so -called “core 1” of the complaint. This group is considered the “crucial criminal organization” group that, according to the Attorney General, Paulo Gonet, planned to give the coup d’état in 2022.
PGR’s complaint involves a total of 34 people, including former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). However, at this first moment, the first class of the Supreme Court will evaluate the conduct of 8 people:
- Jair Bolsonaro
- Mauro Cid
- Walter Braga Netto
- Alexandre Ramagem
- Almir Garnier
- Anderson Torres
- Augusto Heleno
- Paulo Sérgio Nogueira
*Under the supervision of Mayara da Paz
