STJ sends Lula’s lawsuit against businessman to the São Bernardo Court

The Fourth Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) sent to the 7th Civil Court of São Bernardo do Campo (SP) the action in which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asks for compensation from a man who threatened him with death on social networks. In the publication he held a gun. In the images, published on March 13, 2021, the businessman, identified as José Sabatini, from the city of Artur Nogueira (SP), fires a revolver at targets on a soccer field and attacks Lula. “Lula, you son of a bitch, I want to give you a message. Today is Saturday, March 13th. Pay attention to the message I’m going to give you, you bum. If you don’t return the R$84 billion you stole from the workers’ pension fund, you’re going to be in trouble,” Sabatini said in the post. The day after the post, Lula represented the businessman at the Public Ministry of São Paulo, for the crimes of defamation, slander and injury. The MP followed up with the case and filed a lawsuit. The Court of Justice of São Paulo, in turn, understood that the process should be processed in Artur Nogueira, where the defendant resides. There, the charges for defamation and slander were filed, with only the one relating to injury being maintained. Lula’s defense appealed, and now the STJ has determined that the case return to São Bernardo do Campo, where the president resides and where the process had first been filed. The rapporteur, Minister Antonio Carlos Ferreira, said that the STJ’s jurisprudence provides that, in the case of offenses through social networks, in view of the breadth of reach through the internet, the process must be judged in the court where the victim resides. The understanding ended up prevailing at the end of the trial. Lula asks for compensation of R$ 50,000 for the offenses. There is no set deadline for the outcome of the case. Agência Brasil tries to contact the defense of businessman José Sabatini.

Agência Brasil