The offenses occurred in a session at the Barra Funda Criminal Forum, in São Paulo, in June 2023
The Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP) confirmed this Tuesday, 24th, the conviction of criminalist Celso Machado Vendramini for calling the minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes as “PCC lawyer” during the Jury Court session. He must pay R$50,000 in compensation for moral damages to the judge. Moraes was represented by the firm Barci de Moraes, owned by his wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes.
The offenses occurred in a session at the Barra Funda Criminal Forum, in São Paulo, in June 2023when Vendramini was defending two military police officers accused of killing robbery suspects.
During the trial, the criminalist made statements such as: “They are censoring this country here”; “I’m not a Bolsonarist”; “I’m not afraid of him (Alexandre de Moraes), or anyone else”; “if I want to talk about anyone, whoever doesn’t like it can sue me.”
Furthermore, he falsely accused Moraes of being a “PCC lawyer” and stated that, “when he arrested on January 8 […]there was no custody hearing.” Then he insisted: “I’m not going to stop, here I can say what I want.”
According to rapporteur Mário Chuvite Junior, the statements exceeded the limit of professional immunity and they dealt with a matter that did not concern the trial in question.
In the ruling, the rapporteur maintained that “the appellant’s statements in the Jury’s plenary session, which, far from mere defensive rhetoric, reveal an ideological charge and an offensive personal nature, according to excerpts captured in the media and recorded in the minutes”.
The criminalist argued, in his defense, that he made the criticisms protected by professional immunity and in the exercise of their functions. The argument, however, was rejected, and the court denied Vendramini’s appeal against the conviction imposed in the first instance, in March last year, maintaining the compensation of R$50,000 for moral damages to the minister.
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