Ministers Gilmar Mendes and Dias Toffoli, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), voted today (9) to consider former judge Sergio Moro partial in yet another Operation Lava Jato process. For the ministers, Moro conditioned the decree of preventive detention of Sergio Souza Bocaletti, accused of acting as a financial operator of the bribe scheme at Petrobras, to the acceptance of precautionary measures other than prison, such as the seizure of a passport and a ban on leaving the country. Despite the ministers’ demonstration, the understanding did not win in the vote that took place in the Second Panel of the STF, which ended with the granting of habeas corpus only to release the passport of the convict and also to overturn restrictions on travel abroad. Ministers André Mendonça, Nunes Marques and Edson Fachin did not accept the thesis of partiality against Moro. Sergio Bocaletti was sentenced to seven years in prison for money laundering. According to Lava Jato investigators, he operated accounts abroad to conceal bribe payments to Petrobras agents. In 2018, he was released by Sergio Moro after paying BRL 21 million in bail. During the trial, in addition to voting for Moro’s partiality, Gilmar Mendes concluded that the lawsuit against Bocaletti should be annulled as a result of his understanding. In Mendes’ assessment, the illegality in the process occurred when Moro opened a five-day period for the defense to express its opinion on replacing the prison with precautionary measures. The minister also criticized the operation and what he calls the “Republic of Curitiba”. “People were only released after they confessed. That’s a shame, and we can’t have that kind of burden. Pervert thing. Clearly it was about torture, using the power of the State. It’s about perverts entrusted with public functions “, he stated. Then, Toffoli stated that the Constitution prevents self-incrimination and considered that there was “coercion to bargain prison”. For the minister, Lava Jato was a “condemnation industry”. “Minister Gilmar Mendes detected that there was a kind of bargain. He used the power of the State judge, which is not a party, to instruct the process to obtain information. It is a macaw stick of the 21st century”, he added. In March 2021, the collegiate considered Moro partial in conducting the process involving former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the operation. Agência Brasil contacted the former judge’s advisory and is waiting for a response.
Agência Brasil
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