Former advisor to Moraes begins to be tried in the STF

The First Panel of the Federal Supreme Court () began this Friday (7) to judge the complaint presented by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) against Eduardo Tagliaferro, former advisor to the minister at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). The complaint attributes four crimes to him: violation of functional secrecy, coercion during the process, obstruction of an investigation into a criminal organization and attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law. The trial takes place in a virtual plenary session and ministers have until the 14th to register their votes.

The case involves the leak of messages from Moraes’ assistant judges at the STF and the Superior Electoral Court. The material was released to the press and became known as “Vaza Toga”, used by allies of the former president (PL) as an example of alleged arbitrariness practiced by the minister. The investigation concluded that it was Tagliaferro who leaked the dialogues.

During the 2022 elections, he headed the TSE’s Special Advisory for Combating Disinformation (AEED). The leaked messages revealed that AEED was called to carry out inquiries into Moraes at the STF. The reports produced were included in inquiries and later used to justify decisions such as breaking bank secrecy, canceling passports and blocking social networks.

Tagliaferro also claims that Moraes tampered with documents to justify Federal Police operations. In one of the allegations, he maintains that he had to produce a document after a police action, but with the date altered to indicate that the technical material had been produced before.

The Attorney General of the Republic, in the complaint based on the police investigation, maintains that the former advisor acted in line with groups investigated in the fake news investigations, the coup attempt and the so-called digital militias. Gonet says that the former civil servant tried to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the electoral process and undermine investigations into anti-democratic acts.

An excerpt from the complaint argues that Tagliaferro “violated functional secrecy by revealing to the press and making public dialogues on confidential matters” that he maintained with employees of the STF and TSE as chief advisor to AEED. According to the PGR, its actions had the objective of “serving the illicit interests of a criminal organization responsible for disseminating fictitious news against the health of the electronic voting system and the actions of the STF and TSE, as well as for the attempted coup d’état and violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law”.

The First Panel of the Court is currently made up of four ministers; Alexandre de Moraes, Cármen Lúcia, Cristiano Zanin and Flávio Dino. They will judge whether there are enough elements to open criminal proceedings against Tagliaferro.

The rapporteur, Moraes, voted to make the former advisor a defendant. He claims that Tagliaferro publicized the conversations to “create an intimidating environment” and “embarrass the legitimate exercise of the judicial function”. According to the minister, the “selective disclosure of confidential information creating doubt about the legitimacy of the investigations”, the “propagation of narratives without evidentiary support alleging irregularities” and the coordination with others investigated to “delegitimize the institutions” prove that Eduardo Tagliaferro acted intentionally.

If the collegiate has a majority to accept the complaint, with the vote of the other ministers, the former advisor will become a defendant and the process will proceed to the investigation phase, with the collection of evidence and statements.

Moraes asked in August for the extradition of his former advisor, who is in Italy. He was detained by authorities in October to apply precautionary measures prohibiting him from leaving the region where he lives, in the commune of Cosenza, in Calabria.

*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
Published by Nícolas Robert