Brazil’s Justice Moraes overturns CPI decision breaching Bolsonaro’s phone secrecy

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal Supreme Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes suspended the Pandemic Parliamentary Inquiry Committee’s (CPI) decision to breach President Jair Bolsonaro’s cell phone records.

Moraes granted a restraining order filed by the Federal Solicitor General’s Office (AGU) after the CPI’s order in October. The decision disclosed yesterday was signed on Friday, November 19.

“I hereby grant the injunction request to suspend the decisions contained in the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee’s approval of Application 1,587/2021. Let the records be examined by the Federal Prosecutor General’s Office to provide an opinion within 15 days,” the Justice ruled.

In the decision, Moraes also argued that the CPI extrapolated its investigative limits.

“The coercive measure ultimately exceeded the constitutional investigative limits granted to the CPI when it approved the request for breach and disclosure of the plaintiff’s data privacy, among other decisions, without providing grounds to demonstrate its own effectiveness with respect to the desired purpose of the parliamentary committee, which had already completed its investigation, including the preparation of the final report,” he concluded.

In the request, the CPI had asked Google, Facebook, and Twitter to provide a range of data from the President’s official accounts, in addition to a request to suspend access to the accounts.

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