By Bianca Oliveira
SAO PAULO – “A person only becomes guilty through a lawsuit that reaches that result. If the judicial process was declared null, by logical definition this person is innocent”, explains Professor Rogério Arantes, department of political science of the University of São Paulo (USP), about the situation of former President Lula after the decision of the Minister of the Supreme Court (STF), Edson Fachin, to annul all convictions handed down against Lula by the Federal Court of Curitiba , responsible for Lava Jato.
In the decision, Fachin affirms that the Curitiba task force should not be responsible for the cases that led Lula to prison in 2018 and determines that they be restarted by the Federal District Justice. The question of the impartiality of Judge Sérgio Moro was also pointed out as a reason for annulment of the process by the defense of the former president. The Supreme Court, which has postponed Moro’s judgment since December 2018, started voting on the matter on Tuesday (9).
“This is happening in a context where recorded conversations between prosecutors, federal judges and investigators, most recently disclosed, reveal that it was a political operation, in the sense that the ends were placed in front of the means.They shared decisions that, in the light of the penal code, should be taken independently so that criminal proceedings could take place in the most impartial and legitimate way possible. When they did this, they derailed the former president’s right of defense and that’s why Lava Jato is undergoing this profound review,” Arantes said.
Due to the conviction, Lula could not run for the 2018 elections, when he was leading the polls of voting intentions in the country against the current president, Jair Bolsonaro. In a statement, Lula’s defense claimed that “The decision is in line with everything we have sustained for more than 5 years in the conduct of proceedings. But it does not have the power to repair the irremediable damage caused by former judge Sergio Moro and the prosecutors of the “lava jato” to former President Lula, the Justice System and the Democratic Rule of Law”.
In an interview with CNN Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro accused Fachin of having, “‘a strong connection with the PT (Workers’ Party)” and that the “Brazilian people do not want Lula candidate”.
The market also reacted to the announcement of the annulment of the convictions of the former president, recording a 4% drop in the stock market and the highest value of the dollar since May 2020. According to experts heard by the local media, the fear is that, with lula eligible, the Bolsonaro government will become more populist and not proceed with the promised economic reforms.
According to the professor of the Department of Political Science of USP, there are still premises that need to be confirmed, because it is not known if Lula will be a candidate for the presidency. The important point of the decision of the Minister of the Supreme Court is the beginning of the review process of Lava Jato. Based on technical measures, Fachin avoided a greater evil for operation Lava Jato, but the judgment of the impartiality of Judge Sergio Moro initiated by the Supreme Court can generate a “resounding setback”.
“The commission of the trial of the allegation of suspicion of Judge Sergio Moro no longer goes through the way of questioning the technical competence of the Justice of Curitiba to prosecute certain cases, but something much more forceful of an ethical and moral nature, which is to deconstruct the figure of Judge Sergio Moro declaring his complete suspicion and therefore partiality in everything he has done since his first acts involving operation Lava Jato”.
ESPERTO: “CON LULA INNOCENTE, VA A PROCESSO ‘LAVA JATO’”
Di Bianca Oliveira
SAN PAOLO DEL BRASILE – “Una persona diventa colpevole solo attraverso un procedimento giudiziario che arrivi a questa conclusione. Se il processo viene invece dichiarato nullo, a rigor di logica la persona in questione è innocente”: così all’agenzia Dire Rogerio Arantes, professore del Departamento de Ciencia Politica da Universidade de Sao Paulo (Usp). L’intervista si svolge dopo la decisione del giudice del Supremo Tribunal Federal (Stf) Edson Fachin di annullare tutte le condanne emesse nei confronti dell’ex presidente Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, più noto come Lula, dalla corte federale della città di Curitiba, in riferimento dell’indagine nota come ‘Lava Jato’. Nella sentenza, Fachin ha sottolineato che la task force con base a Curitiba non dovrà più essere a capo dei casi che portarono Lula all’incarceramento nel 2018 e ha determinato che questi siano ripresi dalla Corte del Distrito Federal della capitale Brasilia. La questione relativa all’imparzialità dell’ex giudice federale Sergio Moro è stata indicata come possibile ragione dell’annullamento del processo da parte della difesa dell’ex presidente. Il Supremo Tribunal Federal, che ha posticipato il giudizio su Moro a partire dal dicembre 2018, ha iniziato a votare ieri sulla faccenda. Secondo Arantes, “queste notizie arrivano in un contesto in cui delle conversazioni registrate tra il pubblico ministero, il giudice federale e gli investigatori recentemente rese pubbliche hanno rivelato che si è trattato di un’operazione tecnicamente politica, nel senso che i fini sono stati più importanti dei mezzi”. Il docente spiega: “Questi tre diversi attori del processo hanno condiviso decisioni che, stando al codice penale, dovrebbero essere adottate nel modo più imparziale e quindi legittimo possibile; nel momento in cui hanno compiuto questi atti, sono venuti meno al diritto di difesa dell’ex presidente ed è per questa ragione che Lava Jato sta andando incontro a una profonda revisione”.
In conseguenza delle condanne, Lula non aveva potuto candidarsi alle elezioni del 2018, nonostante guidasse i sondaggi sulle intenzioni di voto contro l’attuale presidente, Jair Bolsonaro. In una nota la difesa dell’ex capo di Stato ha affermato che la decisione presa dal Supremo Tribunal Federal “è in sintonia con tutto quello che abbiamo sostenuto in più di cinque anni di processo”. La tesi è che “il verdetto non ha però il potere di riparare ai danni irrimediabili provocati dall’ex giudice Sergio Moro e dai procuratori di ‘Lava continua a leggere sul sito di riferimento