Paraná judge Luís César de Paula Espíndola, appointed by the (National Council of Justice), has been challenging justice for years.
The new fact that emerged in the first session of the collegiate chaired by Edson Fachin was the inclusion, in the judge’s extensive background record, of testimonies from TJ-PR employees collected during an internal affairs inspection.
They reveal that they have been by the judge since the 80s.
Lawyer Luiz Fernando Casagrande Pereira, representative of OAB-PR, author of the complaint, revealed that employees from Espíndola’s office were used as maids and caregivers for the judge’s mother.
Pereira says that they followed “survival protocols”, such as not being alone with the judge.
The CNJ’s decision reflects two of Fachin’s priorities. In his inauguration speech at the STF, he promised to pay attention to the victims of gender inequality. In the CNJ, he maintained: “judges make mistakes and must be held accountable.”
In 2023, the then rapporteur of a criminal case, minister Paulo de Tarso Sanseverino (died in 2023), alerted the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) about the judge’s chicanery.
Despite this, Espíndola benefited from the tolerance, among others, of former national inspector João Otávio de Noronha and the indecision of former sheriff Humberto Martins.
It is an incident that the judge, unanimously convicted of bodily harm (accused of attacking his sister, the judge), returned to court to preside over a .
Espíndola’s violent temperament was evident in several episodes.
Acquitted by the STJ in the criminal case in which he was accused of punching a housewife, Espíndola delayed the criminal case in which he was accused of punching his sister and hitting his mother.
The complaint, based on the Maria da Penha Law, was received unanimously in 2018. There were disagreements about the magistrate’s removal.
The case exposes four national inspectors.
Luís Felipe Salomão listed six archived disciplinary investigations. “Specifically in relation to conduct that involves possible gender-based violence, the presence of previous investigations in the disciplinary sphere confirms the need for a thorough investigation by this internal affairs department”, he noted.
The processing of the complaint is confidential, but Salomão made the act public.
João Otávio de Noronha filed a request for action with the CNJ in which Espíndola was accused of attacking a neighbor. In the trial of the criminal action for the injury caused to his sister, Noronha led the disagreement that prevented the removal of the judge proposed by Sanseverino.
“What harms his return now? It seems to me that it’s better that he comes back soon. Time away is not a shame. It’s better that he gets paid by working”, said Noronha.
Humberto Martins, who sees internal affairs as therapy, defined Espíndola as follows: “He attacks his neighbor with a shovel, his sister with punches. An individual with a highly aggressive, intemperate and violent temperament.”
Then he retreated. He was in favor of the judge’s return. “He has been away for a long time. The removal is a highly drastic measure.”
Mauro Campbell already defended on that occasion the precautionary removal to “preserve not only the dignity of the position held but also the credibility of the Paraná Court of Justice”.
This Tuesday, Campbell highlighted the need to maintain the court’s absence not only to repair the damage caused, but also to prevent future victimization.
The book “Eliana Calmon no CNJ – A first-person testimony about the challenges of supervising Justice” will be released in November.
The book portrays the work of the former national inspector. According to the editors, it is “a testimony about his intense and convinced fight for the improvement of the Judiciary as an institution of the Brazilian State”.
The preface is by Antônio de Pádua Ribeiro, the first national inspector. The launch of Amanuense Livros will be on November 12th, at 7pm, at Nau Restaurante, Lago Sul, Brasília.
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