RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Edson Fachin denied on Thursday, August 29th, a request for the release of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The defense claimed that the Lava Jato task force in Curitiba, headed by prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, lacked impartiality in conducting investigations into the Guarujá (São Paulo) triplex. Lula has been in prison since April 2018, following his conviction in this lawsuit.
In denying the request, Fachin reasoned that in June, the Second Panel had rejected an injunction when examining whether the former president should be released for alleged suspicion of former justice Sérgio Moro.
The merits of petition are to be judged by the STF’s Second Panel, on a date not yet defined.
Lava Jato‘s rapporteur further refused defense counsel’s request for expert examination of the messages allegedly exchanged by Lava Jato prosecutors published on The Intercept website. According to Fachin, habeas corpus is not the proper means for this type of request.
Lula’s defense affirmed that “during the criminal proceedings, demonstrations by members of the Prosecutor’s Office should be carried out quietly, prudently and objectively, while refraining from exposing the investigated/accused or undermining the guarantee of the assumption of innocence.”
And he considered that, in Lula’s case, this had not happened.
The defense recalled that the investigators “conducted a press conference with the use of PowerPoint on the date of the denunciation being received, with Lula being treated as guilty even before the lawsuit had been brought.”
Additionally, prosecutores are alleged to have given statements to the press throughout the proceedings “to label Lula as guilty, despite the absence of any evidence of guilt.” The defense further accused the team of having used social media during the case “to publish various offensive writings on Lula.”
The lawyers further mentioned the establishment of a “billion-dollar private law foundation with funds from Petrobras, for which the accusations against Lula had enormous relevance.”
In the action, the defense included messages allegedly exchanged between Dallagnol and Moro published on The Intercept, in partnership with other media outlets.
According to the lawyers, the prosecutors “acted with clear personal and political motivation”, and were subject to the coordination and guidance of judge Sérgio Moro.
The judgment on the merits of the appeal in which Lula’s defense questions Moro’s alleged bias in the conduct of the triplex lawsuit has not yet been scheduled.
The case began to be judged by the STF’s Second Panel last year when the rapporteur of Lava-Jato, justice Edson Fachin, and Cármen Lúcia voted against the lawyers’ request. Justices Gilmar Mendes, Ricardo Lewandowski, and Celso de Mello are yet to vote.