After STF confirms bias of Moro, Brazil’s Lower House president says Lava Jato “does not deserve the forgiveness of history”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The decision by the Second Panel of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) that former judge Sergio Moro was biased in convicting former President Lula is a historical review of the Lava Jato, but the partiality of the operation “can never deserve the forgiveness of history,” said the speaker of the Lower House, federal deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

Lira, leader of the Centrão bloc and an ally of President Jair Bolsonaro, spoke out on a social network after the STF’s decision, motivated by the vote of Minister Cármen Lucia. With the change in her vote, the Second Panel decided to cancel the action and grant the habeas corpus in which the defense counsel of the ex-president asked for the declaration of bias of judge Moro in this case.

According to Lira, the Supreme “decided to make a historic review of the Lava Jato.

“The operation can never be challenged in its courage to confront the powerful, the big interests, the systemic corruption,” he said. “But the Police State, to which the Lava Jato has at certain moments descended, lamentably, with its partialities, selectivity and persecutions, can also never deserve the forgiveness of history.”

In early March, in an unusual decision, the same Second Panel of the STF reversed the result of a trial held in June 2019 and dismissed charges against Lira, Senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI) and deputies Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB) and Eduardo da Fonte (PP-PE).

The panel had previously accepted charges against the four politicians, but the replacement of Justice Celso de Mello by newly appointed Justice Kassio Nunes Marques led the panel to accept the appeals of the defense counsel and reject the charge that had accepted in 2019.

The indictment was offered as part of Lava Jato by the Public Ministry in September 2017 and describes a scheme that was said to have been in effect between 2004 and 2015.

The PGR (Prosecutor General’s Office) says the four used their mandates to influence government entities such as Petrobras and the Ministry of Cities and divert funds from public contracts.

The STF decision also had repercussions in the political arena.

Former Senate President Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL) directly criticized Moro and said the Supreme Court corrected a “terrible” miscarriage of justice.

“Sergio Moro was returned to his rightful place: mediocrity and infamy. The STF has finally corrected the terrible miscarriage of justice that resulted in these times of lies, fear and death. Moro and his Lava Jato accomplices will have to answer for the evils they have done to the country, to the judiciary, and to democracy,” he said in a message to the news outlet.

Long politically close to Lula, the leader of the PT in the Senate, Paulo Rocha (PT-PA), said that it is a historic day and also attacked Moro.

“Today is a historic day. The STF finally recognized what we have always known: Moro was a biased, partial and dishonest judge. Although late, on this date so many injustices done for years against Lula, who continues to prove his innocence, are finally overturned.”

In the assessment of Congressman Kim Kataguiri (DEM-SP), the decision of the Second Panel was illegal. “The basis of the habeas corpus had already been denied on three other occasions by the STF,” he said.

“The evidence used in the justification of the favorable votes (the Vaza-Jato leaks) is illicit. Moreover, even if it is assumed that there was nullity, a declaration of bias would not be the appropriate instrument. As predicted by Minister Fux, STF will have to hire an accountant to reimburse corrupt and corruptors.”

Lava Jato advocate and one of the leaders of the Movimento Muda Senado, Senator Álvaro Dias (Podemos-PR) said that the judgment is part of a conspiracy against the operation.

“If the Habeas Corpus is from 2018, why the trial now? Because the conspiracy against Lava Jato has advanced. The trial imposes the inversion of values that wears down the Brazilian judicial system. This decision will have consequences. The Lava Jato operation is battered. The hope for justice in the country plunges,” said the senator.

Former Education Minister Abraham Weintraub also criticized the decision. “The ‘MECHANISM’ has won once again. Unfortunately, despite all efforts, we are heading for a breakdown,” he wrote on a social network.

For former Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta, Moro promoted justice and “arrived at the largest political core of the largest corruption scheme in the history of the country.”

“That, nothing erases. Our generation must make clear its repulsion to the ongoing smothering operation,” he said. “Soon we will have to indemnify this gang. This penalty had already been ratified even by the STF. A setback that will cost the country dearly.”

On the opposite spectrum, the left saw the STF’s statement as a testament to the bias of the former judge and celebrated the Supreme Court’s vote. The PSOL leader in the House, Talíria Petrone (RJ), said that the former minister, “by violating his role as judge, paved the way for [President Jair] Bolsonaro and the tragedy that is this government.”

“Although late, the STF’s decision is an important step towards doing justice and holding the former Bolsonaro minister accountable for the crimes committed,” he added.

On a social network, Congressman Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP) said that the decision also did justice, “because the Constitution guarantees each and every person the fundamental right to be judged by an impartial judge.” “Outside of that is barbarism.”

Deputy Marília Arraes (PT-PE) said the STF’s decision was a victory for democracy and the democratic rule of law. “History always charges and today was the day the former judge entered the trash can of history never to come out again,” she said.