The (Superior Court of Justice) decided this Tuesday (14), unanimously, to open disciplinary proceedings against the minister of the court, who is suspected of. The judge will be removed from office until the analysis is completed.
In a note, the court also informed that ministers Luis Felipe Salomão, Benedito Gonçalves and Ricardo Villas Bõas Cueva were selected to form the committee responsible for investigating the case. Humberto Martins and João Otávio de Noronha will be substitutes.
There are two accusations of a sexual nature against Buzzi. The first was made in January by the daughter of a couple of friends of the minister, who said she had been grabbed while swimming in the sea on the coast of Santa Catarina. The second came from an outsourced employee who worked for the magistrate.
Marco Buzzi has denied all suspicions. After the decision, in a note, the judge’s defense stated that they had received the result of the session with “resignation and serenity.”
Behind the scenes, people who followed the court session say that all the ministers present voted to open the process, but some of them made considerations.
According to these magistrates, the records contain two versions of the same acts and, therefore, there is still no level of certainty regarding the suspicions. For this reason, they said, it would be important to continue the process. This way, it will be possible to achieve more clarity for the decisive judgment.
The tendency is for the investigation to result in the magistrate’s compulsory retirement. For this to happen, at least 22 votes are needed — the court is made up of 33 ministers. Voting is secret.
Administrative processes have the most serious consequence of compulsory retirement. In this scenario, Buzzi would lose his position as minister, but would continue to receive his earnings.
Below that, he could suffer a warning or censure. A conviction in the STF (Supreme Federal Court) for the crime of sexual harassment could lead to imprisonment and loss of funds.
Also this Tuesday, the case advanced in the STF. The rapporteur of the criminal case, Kassio Nunes Marques, opened the investigation that will investigate Buzzi’s conduct.
In the rapporteur’s assessment, the statements made by the victim and her parents, in addition to the evidence produced so far, are sufficient to initiate criminal prosecution.
“The crime news is, therefore, supported by minimum elements of information that justify the initiation of the investigation to determine the criminal hypothesis attributed to MAGB, an authority with jurisdictional prerogative in this Federal Supreme Court”, he said.
On March 31, in a document sent to the minister, the (Attorney General’s Office) expressed favor of the measure. “There are sufficient elements to initiate an investigation”, stated the Attorney General of the Republic, .
Lawyers Paulo Emílio Catta Preta and Maria Fernanda Ávila, who defend Buzzi, said that he has four decades of public life without blemish and without having committed an improper act.
“We believe that, from now on, we will have the necessary conditions to show that all accusations against Minister Marco Buzzi are unfounded, are not accompanied by minimal evidence and must be refuted at the end of this process,” the lawyers said in a statement.
The defense of the STJ magistrate even requested the suspension of the investigation on the grounds that there was no contradiction in the work done by the investigation that preceded the opening of the disciplinary procedure.
“The shared oral evidence is unlawful because it was produced with the adversary party exclusively from the prosecution,” Buzzi’s defense told the STF.
However, the minister, stating that there is time for contradiction throughout the disciplinary process.
