Summoned to explain the asylum granted to the former first lady of Peru, the Minister of Justice canceled his trip to the Chamber citing commitments “previously assumed”
The president of the Chamber’s Foreign Relations committee, deputy Filipe Barros (PL-PR), stated this Tuesday (Nov. 4, 2025) that he will sue the PGR (Attorney General’s Office) against the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, who where he should participate in a hearing.
The minister was going to provide clarifications on the granting of political asylum to the former first lady of Peru, Nadine Heredia, this Tuesday, but he did not attend.
In the document justifying the absence ( – 69 kB)sent based on art. 50 of the Federal Constitution and in art. 219 of the Chamber’s Internal Regulations, the ministry states that the minister regrets not being able to attend “due to the tight deadline and commitments made previously”. Lewandowski is in Belém, where he is participating in commitments related to COP30.
Earlier, during what was supposed to be just for the minister to provide clarifications, Barros criticized Lewandowski and questioned the appointment he claimed to have made in advance.
According to Barros, there was no commitment on Lewandowski’s agenda until the time of the collegiate meeting. One item would have been included in the session schedule, which would be the “boarding, in theory, for COP30 in Belém (PA)”.
“We will join with [pedido de denúncia de] crime of responsibility to the Attorney General of the Republic and we will also notify the President of the House, deputy Hugo Motta, because this represents a demoralization of the House of representatives of the people”stated Barros about the case.
POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES
Lawyers believe that there should be no consequences for the minister’s absence, even if he was summoned to the commission.
“According to the letter of the regulations, absence without adequate justification is considered a crime of responsibility. If the summons made based on article 50, caput, of the Federal Constitution, is not complied with, the president of the Chamber may initiate the appropriate legal procedure”says criminal lawyer and master’s student in Criminal Law at USP, Filipe Papaiordanou.
This was not the case, however, as Lewandowski presented a justification considered adequate. Lawyer and specialist in Constitutional Law, Mateus Silveira, explains that the Constitution establishes an exception, allowing the minister to send a letter to the commission communicating his absence when he has other previously scheduled commitments.
THE NADINE HEREDIA CASE
The former first lady of Peru arrived in Brasília on April 16, 2025, on a FAB (Brazilian Air Force) plane, after Brazil had granted diplomatic asylum. She and her husband, former president Ollanta Humala (2011-2016), were sentenced by Peruvian courts to 15 years in prison for money laundering during the 2011 election campaign.
The illicit resources would have come from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht — now called Novonor. Both deny the accusations. The trial took 3 years. During this period, the former president of Peru maintained the thesis of political persecution. Humala and Heredia Humala can appeal the sentence, but the prison sentence is already in effect.
According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the decision was taken based on the Diplomatic Asylum Convention signed in Caracas in 1954, of which both Brazil and Peru are signatories.
