The defense of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) filed a new appeal with the (Supreme Federal Court) this Monday (12), once again asking that Minister Luiz Fux’s vote that acquitted the former president prevail and his conviction be annulled.
In the request, the lawyers also try to take the case to the full court plenary, with 11 ministers — currently, the collegiate has ten ministers, with Luís Roberto Barroso’s seat vacant.
Fux, the only one to vote for Bolsonaro’s acquittal in the phase of analyzing the merits of the action, left the First Panel at his request and does not participate in the analysis of the appeals.
In one of the points raised by the defense in reference to Fux’s vote, Bolsonaro’s speeches against other Powers could not be considered criminal.
“The vote given by the eminent Minister Luiz Fux also highlighted the provisions of article 359-T of the Penal Code, which removes any criminal nature from speeches or ‘bravado’ given against members of other powers and reiterated what the defense pointed out several times regarding the veto of article 359-O, which sought to criminalize ‘campaign or initiative to disseminate facts that are known to be untrue, and that are capable of compromising the integrity of the process election'”, said the lawyers.
The piece alleges that the alleged conduct, such as criticism of the electoral system, constitutes freedom of expression or mere unpunishable preparatory acts. They would not, therefore, be acts of execution of crimes against the Democratic Rule of Law.
In the appeal, the lawyers ask for reconsideration of the previous decision that denied the last request. The defense presented the so-called infringing embargoes on November 28th. The rapporteur, Alexandre de Moraes, rejected the request on December 19.
In the 73-page document, they stated that the STF committed a “judicial error” by bringing forward the final and unappealable decision while the deadline for opposing embargoes was still running.
The defense also states that what happened is an “inadmissible exception”. The appeal is signed by lawyers Celso Vilardi, Paulo da Cunha Bueno, Daniel Tesser, Renata Kalim, Domitila Kohler and Eduardo Ferreira da Silva.
Minister Alexandre de Moraes declared the criminal action on November 25th. On the same date, the magistrate sentenced the former president to 27 years and 3 months in prison on charges of leading a .
Now, the defense returns to previous arguments, such as that the coup drafts were “rudimentary sketches”, or that Bolsonaro’s actions have no causal link with the attacks of January 8, 2024 and that it is not possible to characterize participation in a criminal organization in the facts judged.
Before that, the First Panel had already unanimously rejected, at the beginning of November, the appeal of the former president and the other defendants from the central group against the conviction imposed on them by the panel.
Furthermore, they say they know the precedent that Moraes used to deny the previous request, but that the case deserves evolution in understanding.
According to lawyers, the Supreme Court’s internal regulations allow for infringing embargoes in the event of a non-unanimous decision, and for the STF to set a minimum number of votes to accept these appeals would be to invade Congress’s legislative competence. Furthermore, everyone has the right to appeal a sentence.
The judgment on the motions for clarification marked the beginning of a new phase in the process, from when it began to speculate about the start of the sentence for those convicted.
Their requests were also rejected (former minister of the Civil House), (former head of the Navy), (former minister of Defense), (former director of Abin and federal deputy), (former minister of the GSI) and (former minister of Justice).
The only one who did not appeal was Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid. As a benefit of the plea bargain agreement, Bolsonaro’s former aide-de-camp will not be imprisoned for his participation in the coup plot, as he was sentenced to just two years in open prison.
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