Ministers Gilmar Mendes and Luiz Fux had a debate this Thursday, 16th, in a room of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) close to the plenary. The information was conveyed by Folha de S. Paulo and confirmed by Estadão. In the discussion, Mendes would have called Fux a “regrettable figure”.
During a break in a session, Mendes ironically asked Fux why he had interrupted the trial of an appeal to the decision that made former judge Sergio Moro a defendant for slander against Mendes.
Mendes recommended that Fux undergo therapy to get rid of Lava Jato, according to a version of the story told by people who witnessed the discussion. A witness involved in the fight, however, denies this part. Still in the discussion, Mendes recalled that a former employee from his colleague’s office was mentioned in a plea bargain proposal. José Nicolao Salvador was fired in 2016.
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Mendes added that he publicly called Fux a “regrettable figure” for the 12-hour vote presented in the trial that condemned former president Jair Bolsonaro. According to Mendes, the vote made no sense because it acquitted the former president and condemned “the butler” – in this case, lieutenant colonel Mauro Cid.
In response, Fux would have defended the votes he cast, adding that he had the right to vote according to his own convictions. He would have added that Mendes should not even comment on the trial, because he is not part of the First Panel. According to Fux, Mendes’ observation was an offense against the Organic Law of the National Judiciary (Loman).
Wanted by Estadãothe two ministers preferred not to comment on the episode, but did not deny that it occurred.
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Another fights
It is not the first time that Mendes has participated in harsh discussions with court ministers. In 2016, Mendes started voting when he heard from the now Minister of Justice Ricardo Lewandowski, an ironic question about whether his colleague had already voted in a certain process. “Your Excellency has done more unorthodox things here”, replied Mendes. Lewandowski replied: “Your Excellency, please forget me!”
In 2018, also in the STF plenary, Luís Roberto Barroso said that Mendes was “a mixture of evil with delay and hints of psychopathy”. In the same session, Barroso heard from his colleague that he should “close his law firm”, in an insinuation that the minister was not an exempt magistrate.
“Your Excellency, alone, embarrasses the court. It is very bad. It is very painful for all of us to have to live with Your Excellency here. You have no idea, you have no patriotism, you are always after some interest that is not that of Justice. It is a horrible thing, a shame, an embarrassment. It is very ugly,” said Barroso.
In 2009, Joaquim Barbosa, also retired, accused his colleague, who presided over the court, of “destroying the credibility of Brazilian Justice”. And he recommended that his colleague take to the streets. “Your Excellency is not talking to your henchmen from Mato Grosso”, added Barbosa.
In a book published in 2019, former Attorney General of the Republic Rodrigo Janot said that he was less than 200 meters from Mendes with a gun in hand in the STF snack room, but decided not to shoot. Mendes used to attack Janot’s performance in Lava Jato processes. In 2017, he said in plenary that the prosecutor “vilified” the STF and used the position for “spurious purposes”.
