The Federal Supreme Court (STF) formed a majority, on Friday (25), to maintain the immediate compliance with the arrest of former President Fernando Collor.
The decision to have the former president was arrested monocratically by Minister Alexandre de Moraes on Thursday night (24) and sent to the virtual plenary to be validated by other magistrates on Friday (25).
Ministers Dias Toffoli, Edson Fachin, Luís Roberto Barroso and Cármen Lúcia voted in advance by following Moraes’s understanding.
In the morning, with the opening of the virtual plenary, Minister Flávio Dino accompanied the decision of Moraes. Shortly thereafter, Gilmar Mendes requested prominence, that is, to bring the case to the physical plenary in order to have a greater discussion about the case.
Minister Cristiano Zanin said he prevented from judging the action because, before being minister, he acted as a lawyer in cases of Operation Lava Jato.
Despite having a majority, the decision is not yet valid, but it serves as a thermometer of how the ministers see the action. This is because when there is a prominent request, the score is zeroed and restarted in the physical plenary. That is, magistrates can change votes.
It is up to the President of the Court, Barroso, to determine when the theme will be evaluated in the physical plenary. Earlier, the case could be scheduled from May 7, as the Supreme Court will not have face -to -face sessions next week due to May 1 holiday.
Understand
According to Moraes, Collor’s defense had “procrastinatory intent” upon entering the second appeal, as it did not present new facts. With this, the minister thought it is necessary that the decision be complied immediately.
The Supreme Court had already denied a Collor feature, in which he said his sentence was greater than the average votes of the ministers. In the new request, the defense wanted to be considered the penalty suggested by the ministers who voted for lighter punishments: André Mendonça, Nunes Marques, Dias Toffoli and Gilmar Mendes.
The minister rejected this appeal on Thursday. In the decision, he explained that this type of request is only accepted when at least four ministers vote for total acquittal, which did not happen, even if the crimes are analyzed separately.
Moraes also recalled that the STF has already decided that disagreements about the size of the sentence do not allow this kind of appeal. Finally, he stated that the Supreme Court authorizes the beginning of prison even before the final publication of the decision, when the appeal is only intended to delay the process. According to the magistrate, this is what happened in this case.
In 2023, most court ministers understood that Collor received R $ 20 million in bribes between 2010 and 2014 to facilitate the construction of works from UTC Engenharia on BR Distribuidora using its political influence as a senator.
The values were washing to hide their illicit origin and the advantage was reportedly given in exchange for political support to indicate and maintain directors of the then state -owned company.
In addition to the arrest, Collor was sentenced to:
- pay 90 fine days;
- Pay R $ 20 million indemnity for moral damages (in conjunction with the other two convicts);
- not being able to hold a public office or function “for double the time of the deprivation of liberty applied”
