The First Panel of the (Supreme Federal Court) begins judging this Friday (7) that of (PL) and six others. This is a new phase of the process, with the beginning of the former president’s sentence getting closer and closer. The location of the eventual arrest is still unknown.
The collegiate ministers will present their votes in . The first to vote is the minister-rapporteur, . He must present his position at 11 am. The other ministers have until November 14th to vote.
The expectation is that the ministers will present their votes quickly, according to two of them heard by the Sheet. The result must be unanimous against the appeal presented by Bolsonaro.
The minister did not formalize the request to the Supreme Court President to participate in the trials regarding the coup plot. He announced that he intended to do so after and settle in the Second Class.
Fux was the only minister imposed by the First Panel of the Supreme Court against Bolsonaro and his allies. With the collegiate absent, a 2-2 draw could lead to victory for the defendants or the suspension of the trial, following recent court precedents.
The trial that begins this Friday is restricted to the motion for clarification — a type of appeal in which the defenses point out obscurity, inaccuracy, contradiction or omission in the Supreme Court’s decision.
This type of embargo does not change the outcome of the trial —conviction or acquittal—, but it can raise questions about the sentence and even reduce the size of the defendants’ sentences.
The defendants’ defenses still intend to present infringing embargoes, an appeal that could re-discuss issues of merit that led to the defendants’ conviction. The deadline for filing these embargoes is 15 days after the publication of the ruling, but the period was suspended pending the judgment of the first appeals.
The understanding in the Supreme Court, however, is that infringing embargoes can only be received and discussed when there are two votes in favor of the defendant in the collegiate body. As this is not the case with Bolsonaro and the other defendants, Moraes can reject the appeals individually, without hearing his colleagues.
There is uncertainty in the Supreme Court about the exact moment of Bolsonaro’s arrest. The court’s jurisprudence follows the principle of unappealability, according to which the parties to a case can only lodge one appeal against a court decision.
Since Mensalão, the STF has been applying the understanding that the process is closed after the rejection of the second appeal presented by the defense. In this case, Bolsonaro would only begin serving his sentence after the denial of the second declaration embargo — which should be brought to trial in January.
Politicians allied with Bolsonaro believe, however, that Moraes can decree the end of the process and the beginning of serving the sentence immediately after the rejection of the first appeal. There are few precedents for this type of decision in court.
In the appeal that will be analyzed this Friday, Bolsonaro says that the Supreme Court ministers were imprecise and omitted on several points. They would not have discussed theses raised by the defense nor debated, in depth, points that could lead to the annulment of the process.
One of the theses raised by Bolsonaro’s defense is that the former president, if he had advanced coup plans, voluntarily gave up carrying out a coup d’état at the end of 2022.
“The dissenting vote [de Luiz Fux]therefore, confirms the dogmatic plausibility of the defensive thesis, reinforcing that, if execution had begun, the Plaintiff deliberately interrupted the course of events, characterizing voluntary withdrawal”, says the team led by lawyer Celso Vilardi.
“By not addressing these grounds, the ruling commits a relevant and qualified omission, violating the constitutional duty of motivation”, he adds.
In the appeal, Bolsonaro’s lawyers list eight omissions or contradictions that, in the defense’s view, harmed the outcome of the trial.
These errors would be linked to the link between the coup plot and the acts of January 8, 2023, the restriction of defense, the lack of credibility in Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid’s plea bargain and the contradictions between the evidence of Bolsonaro’s participation in the crimes.
The result of these omissions, according to Vilardi, resulted in a conviction and sentence for Bolsonaro with “profound injustices”.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for leading the 2022 coup plot. He is the first former president in the history of Brazil punished for the crime of a coup d’état.
Also convicted of the attempted coup d’état were Almir Garnier Santos (former head of the Navy), Mauro Cid (lieutenant colonel of the Army), Walter Braga Netto (former Minister of Defense), Paulo Sérgio (former Minister of Defense), Alexandre Ramagem (former director of Abin and federal deputy), Augusto Heleno (former minister of the GSI) and Anderson Torres (former minister of Justice).
As a benefit of his award-winning collaboration agreement, Mauro Cid is the only one who will not be arrested for his participation in the coup plot, sentenced to just two years in open prison.
All others must be detained in common prisons, such as the Papuda Penitentiary Complex, in Brasília, or in special rooms within Army and Navy barracks in Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.
