The First Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) unanimously decided to accept the complaint from the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) and make Eduardo Tagliaferro, former advisor to minister Alexandre de Moraes at the Superior Electoral Court, a defendant.
In the process, Tagliaferro is accused of acting against the legitimacy of the Brazilian electoral process and acting to undermine investigations into undemocratic acts.
Unanimity was formed this Thursday with the vote of minister Cármen Lúcia, who followed the rapporteur, Alexandre de Moraes. On Sunday, there was already a majority of votes to make him a defendant, with the votes of Cristiano Zanin and Flávio Dino.
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The PGR accused Tagliaferro of the crimes of attempting to abolish the Democratic Rule of Law, violation of functional secrecy, coercion during the process and obstruction of an investigation involving a criminal organization. Combined, the sentences can reach 22 years in prison.
The complaint points out that, between May 2023 and August 2024, he disclosed internal dialogues between STF and TSE employees to serve the interests of a criminal organization.
According to Moraes’ vote, the former advisor’s conduct “differs from a mere breach of secrecy because it directly affects the state’s capacity to investigate crimes involving criminal organizations, creating an environment of institutional distrust and favoring those being investigated”.
“The embarrassment to the investigations materialized through the selective disclosure of confidential information, creating doubts about the legitimacy of the investigations, through the propagation of narratives without evidentiary support alleging irregularities, through coordination with other people being investigated to delegitimize the institutions and through the acquisition of a new telephone device on the eve of a police hearing presenting equipment other than that actually used”, added the minister, in his vote.
According to the PGR, Tagliaferro “freely, consciously and voluntarily, in the period between 15.05.2023 and 15.08.2024, violated functional secrecy, by revealing to the press and making public dialogues on confidential matters, which he maintained with employees of the Federal Supreme Court and the Superior Electoral Court as Chief Advisor of the TSE’s Special Advisory to Combat Disinformation, to meet interests illicit acts 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”.
In a post on Instagram, Tagliaferro posted that he has “zero fear of this group, regardless of the outcome” of the trial. He is currently in Italy. The Brazilian government has already filed a request with the Italian authorities to extradite him to the country.
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