RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (STJ) has ordered a former prosecutor involved in the Lava Jato anti-corruption operation to compensate former President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva.
One of the two highest courts ruled that Deltan Dallagnol caused “moral damage” to the former president of the country.
The verdict was handed down by the judges, who together with the Supreme Federal Court (STF) form one of the two most important instances of the Brazilian legal system, with four votes in favor and one against.
Dallagnol’s trial against Lula da Silva resulted in a 580-day prison sentence for the latter, which was annulled for irregularities.
The STJ set the compensation because in 2016 the former prosecutor showed the press a graphic depicting Lula da Silva as the head of a “criminal organization.” Under the court’s decision, Dallagnol must pay about US$15,000 to the leftist politician but can appeal the ruling.
At the time the former prosecutor released the graphic to the media, Lula da Silva was only being investigated on suspicion of corruption. At the time, his defense described Dallagnol’s actions as an attempt to “turn the work of the prosecution into a spectacle of political persecution.”
Globo’s G1 reports that according to the judge who wrote the ruling, Luis Felipe Salomão, the “spectacularization of this episode does not seem compatible with the seriousness that an investigation requires.”
The Brazilian Supreme Court had previously found that Deltan Dallagnol had committed other irregularities in the case against Lula.