Court annulled 113 Sul crime convictions and removed Dirceu from Mensalão administrative improbity action
O (Superior Court of Justice) according to president Herman Benjamin. The Court, which is responsible for standardizing the interpretation of federal law in Brazil, tries to establish definitive solutions for civil and criminal cases without constitutional matters.
Some of the processes analyzed this year had national repercussions. They are ccases, for example, such as those of Mensalão, “Crime da 113 Sul” and the murder of the boy Evandro.
Crime yes 113 Sul
The 6th Panel, on September 2, given to Brasilia architect Adriana Villela, convicted in 2019 for the murder of her parents and family maid.
Rapporteur Sebastião Reis Júnior understood that there was a restriction of defense. He argued that the testimonies of the co-defendants, who pointed to Adriana as the mastermind of the crime, were collected in 2010 and made available to the defense only in 2019, during the jury court session.
The following month, on October 14, the STJarrested 14 years ago and sentenced to 47 years in prison. The collegiate classified it as a “serious miscarriage of justice“. Minister Reis Júnior stated that he was arrested based only on confessions presented by the police and co-defendants, without other evidence. He maintained that there was a violation of the principles of due legal process.
In addition to annulling the convictions in the case, the STJ ordered the process to be restarted. Existing evidence can be corrected, and new evidence can be produced. This means that the case has returned to the first instance of Justice.
MONTHLY
Another case that caught public attention was that of the former minister of the Civil House José Dirceuby José Genoíno and Delúbio Soares —all former PT leaders—, in addition to former minister Anderson Adauto (Transport), of the administrative improbity action linked to the Mensalão case.
The decision was taken unanimously by the 1st Section of the STJ on October 2nd of this year. The understanding also benefited 11 other defendants who were in the same situation.
The collegiate understood that the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) committed a “gross error” when appealing against the 2009 decision that dismissed the case without ruling on the merits for the 4 defendants and 11 other co-defendants in the misconduct action. At the time, the first instance argued that whoever held the position of minister could not be held responsible for impropriety, while the others were already defendants in identical actions. It was against this decision that the MPF appealed.
According to the Code of Civil Procedure, when a decision excludes one of the defendants but the process continues in progress with others, the applicable appeal is the. The TRF-1 (Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region), which analyzed the MPF’s appeal, also understood that the Ministry appealed with the wrong instrument.
The rapporteur of the revised appeal, minister Sérgio Kukina, stated that the current jurisprudence is that decisions that exclude a defendant from misconduct and do not close the process must be questioned by means of an appeal, and not through other resources. As the court’s guidance had already been consolidated, the magistrates considered the error gross and inexcusable.
EVANDRO CASE
The 6th Panel of the Court 4 people accused of killing the boy Evandro Ramos Caetano, aged 6, in 1992, in (PR). The collegiate concluded, in September this year, that the first instance convictions were based on evidence obtained through torture.
In his vote, rapporteur Sebastião Reis Júnior stated that the other evidence in the case did not guarantee certainty of the authorship of the crime. “The exclusion of illicit confessions resulted in the absolute absence of evidence for conviction”, declared.
REVERSE RACISM
The 6th Panel of the STJ also annulled, in February this year, all charges against a black man accused of offending a white man because of his skin color. The Court ruled out the possibility of recognizing “reverse racism”.
The case’s rapporteur, Minister Og Fernandes, declared that racial insults only occur when there is a relationship of historical oppression. “Racism is a structural phenomenon that historically affects minority groups, and does not apply to majority groups in positions of power,” these.
According to the judge, the judgment of offenses by blacks against whites can occur, but should not be analyzed as racial insults. “It is not possible to believe that the white Brazilian population can be considered a minority. Therefore, there is no way the situation narrated in the records corresponds to the crime of racial insult”he stated.
JUDICIARY RECESS
The STJ went into judicial recess on December 20, 2025. The Court returns to ordinary sessions on February 4 of the next year.
