Minister considered defense appeal premature because state deputy can still appeal to TSE
Minister Cristiano Zanin, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), denied on Friday (27.mar.2026) the request of the former president of Alerj (Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro) and state deputy (União Brasil) to suspend the effects of the last decision of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) on him. The electoral court and applied a sanction of ineligibility on Tuesday (24th March). Read the (PDF – 131 kB) do voto de Zanin.
The deputy was impeached in a process that found irregularities at Ceperj (Foundation Center for State Statistics, Research and Training of Public Servants). His defense requested a suspensive effect against the TSE ruling, with the aim of suspending the revocation of the mandate and ineligibility. The request was presented in the context of an extraordinary appeal that will still be filed against the electoral decision.
Zanin understood that the request did not meet the legal requirements necessary for granting the precautionary measure. The minister declared that granting a suspensive effect to an extraordinary appeal requires, cumulatively, a positive judgment of the admissibility of the appeal, probability of success and risk of serious damage or damage that is difficult to repair.
“The ruling handed down by the Superior Electoral Court, which is intended to suspend its effectiveness through this preliminary precautionary measure, is still subject to review by the TSE Plenary, so that the applicable appeals have not been exhausted.“, he wrote.
The minister also cited summaries 634 and 635 of the STF. They establish that it is not up to the Court to grant a precautionary measure to give suspensive effect to an extraordinary appeal that has not yet passed the admissibility judgment in the court of origin. In these cases, the competence to analyze urgent requests lies with the president of the court that issued the decision.
Bacellar’s lawyers argued that the revocation of the mandate would have violated constitutional principles such as equality, due process, adversarial proceedings and broad defense. According to the defense, the electoral decision would have applied the most serious sanction selectively. The facts analyzed would cover the same context involving several candidates. Not everyone would have been punished in the same way.
The petition also argued that there would be a risk of irreparable damage if the revocation was not suspended immediately. The defense pointed out the possibility of carrying out relevant acts in the Legislative Branch, such as a possible indirect election, before the definitive conclusion of the judicial discussion in the STF.
Based on these grounds, Cristiano Zanin dismissed the request as unfounded. The decision maintains, for now, the effects of the determination of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) that revoked Bacellar’s mandate.
The decision maintains the understanding that the STF will only be able to analyze any request for suspensive effect after the formal filing of the extraordinary appeal. Compliance with the procedural steps provided for in the legislation is also necessary.
On Friday (27th March), Bacellar during the 3rd phase of Operation Nail and Flesh. The operation investigates the leak of confidential information related to actions against Comando Vermelho. The warrant was issued by order of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, from the Supreme Court.
