Twelve military police officers, some from the tactical platoon, and around eight vehicles were sent to Judge Margani de Mello’s house in , in the early hours of September 27th. One month and eight days later, she failed to obtain the necessary vote at the Santa Catarina Court of Justice to become a judge.
The case happened after Filipe Mello, son of the state governor, Jorginho Mello (PL), reported the magistrate for disturbing the peace. He lives on the floor above hers, in a building on Avenida Beira-Mar Norte, in Florianópolis.
When contacted through his advisors, the governor did not comment. Filipe Mello did not respond to messages sent by the report, and his law firm also did not comment.
Nine days after the incident, on October 6, the general commander of the state military, Colonel Emerson Fernandes, sent a letter to the general inspector of the Court of Justice of Santa Catarina with news of the facts.
Based on this document, which is not confidential, the general inspector of the TJ, Luiz Antônio Zanini Fornerolli, recommended that the other judges not vote for the judge to be promoted to judge and proposed three other names for the triple list from which the person occupying the position would be chosen.
Margani had the vote of just 17 out of a total of 79 judges.
Asked about the reason for sending the letter to the court, the PM responded in a note that “it always seeks a good institutional relationship and, therefore, the institution will not comment on the proposed issue, as it understands that it has already officially communicated it to the responsible institution”.
Then a candidate for promotion to judge based on merit, Margani said she was surprised at the court’s November 5th session, to learn that she had been excluded from the triple list and that an investigation had been opened into an episode that occurred in the building.
At the time, Fornerolli stated that she would have to explain herself about two possible disciplinary infractions linked to what happened.
The first would be a disturbance of the peace “and, after the PMSC was activated [Polícia Militar de Santa Catarina]not adopting measures to reduce noise”.
The second would be “using the prestige of the position to try to obtain an illicit advantage for an exclusively private purpose and devoid of public interest, consisting of an attempt to embarrass and coerce the police officers who responded to the incident.”
Margani claims that his rights to defense and prior manifestation were denied. The deadline for her to defend herself against any administrative proceedings is still in force, but the decision that barred her promotion has already been taken.
“I understand that the doctor can, yes, appear and be voted in honor of the principle of presumption of innocence. If we exclude her, we will already be making a judgment on something that is still incipient and can be resolved in her favor”, said judge João Henrique Blasi, who voted against Margani’s exclusion from the triple list.
The judge says that she arrived home around 12:30 a.m. that September night, accompanied by her husband — Ghesler Cavalcanti Soares, who is also a judiciary employee — and three other couples. “The ambient sound was turned on in the room, where we were talking. All the doors were closed”, he says. The inquiry that gave rise to the Internal Affairs report, however, says that there were more than ten guests and that the sound emission was at “excessive volume”.
Then the intercom would have rang. “It seems to me that it was the doorman, but I can’t say. From then on, my husband was the one who dealt with the situation. Then the police arrived.” According to the police, the neighbor, the governor’s son, first contacted the doorman and the property manager. But, due to the alleged refusal to reduce the volume, Filipe went down to the sidewalk, according to the report, and called police officers who were patrolling the area.
The conversation with the police was led by her husband and one of the guests. “He [o marido] He said he wouldn’t turn down the sound, it was already low. I had already downloaded it and then turned it off”, says the judge. “What stands out most is that several vehicles arrived afterwards.”
During the reading of the report, the inspector general of the TJ-SC, judge Luiz Antônio Zanini Fornerolli, defended the police procedure as standard.
The investigation states that Margani changed when speaking to the police. “Both due to the alcoholic drinks consumed, as well as the high tone of the voice and the content of the words spoken. The judge would have evoked […] the fact that she was a judge to make the security agents leave her apartment”, says the document. The judge denies having exposed the position, including to protect herself from what happened.
“It’s not true,” he says about the allegation of pointing his finger at police officers. “I pointed my arm towards the hallway and asked them to resolve what they had to resolve outside my residence because they didn’t have a warrant.”
The judge says she does not know any reasons why Filipe or his father’s government would want to harm her promotion. This Monday (10), the judge, her husband and the governor’s son met and extinguished through an agreement the detailed term (registration of infractions with minor offensive potential) that had been registered at the time. “The meeting was marked by mutual respect and the spirit of conciliation”, says the note.
